


Moonlight Rendezvous

by vLightnDarkv



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fae & Fairies, Fantasy, Friendship, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 18:04:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15006368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vLightnDarkv/pseuds/vLightnDarkv
Summary: The small village of Hasetsu has one tradition. Every year when winter ends and spring begins a child is chosen to take an offering to the Kazuki shrine as thanks to the fae that reside in the forest surrounding the village for their protection and good fortune. When Yuuri is chosen to take the offering he's determined to succeed, even though all he wants to do is crawl under his bed and hide. So when he gets lost in a sudden storm he fears that he's doomed to fail and bring shame to his family until he meets a young fae with hair the color of the moon who offers to help him.Years later the two reunite and the young fae, now grown, takes up temporary residence in Yuuri's village in order to spend more time with him. But there's a reason why the fae are supposed to keep their distance from humans. Will the two be able to maintain their budding friendship, or will the darkness that lies in human's hearts tear them apart?





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The small village of Hasetsu has one tradition. Every year when winter ends and spring begins a child is chosen to take an offering to the Kazuki shrine as thanks to the fae that reside in the forest surrounding the village for their protection and good fortune. When Yuuri is chosen to take the offering he's determined to succeed, even though all he wants to do is crawl under his bed and hide. So when he gets lost in a sudden storm he fears that he's doomed to fail and bring shame to his family until he meets a young fae with hair the color of the moon who offers to help him.
> 
> Years later the two reunite and the young fae, now grown, takes up temporary residence in Yuuri's village in order to spend more time with him. But there's a reason why the fae are supposed to keep their distance from humans. Will the two be able to maintain their budding friendship, or will the darkness that lies in human's hearts tear them apart?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have it! My entry for the Viktuuri Reverse Bang 2018!
> 
> This story has been a labor of stress, determination, and (over the last week) lack of sleep. XD Life has been so hectic lately that finding time to write was not the easiest thing. The last like, half of this story I knocked out in like two days. @.@ That was nuts. What started off as a story meant to be two chapters exploded and this is the result.
> 
> But! It all paid off because it's done and I can't wait to share it with you all!
> 
> This first chapter, I actually had to split because it was ridiculously long and would have looked really off when compared to the rest of the chapters that were half as long. But I'm posting them together so you (hopefully) don't lose the flow.
> 
> For the round of the bang I was partnered with the AMAZING[ madamelenny!](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/) whose wonderful art you can find [here!](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/post/175111451883/my-pieces-for-yurionicebigbang-2018-this-is-my)
> 
> Seriously every time she sent an update it brightened my day and I could not stop smiling! She is so sweet and so fun and I absolutely LOVED working with her. There are actually two more pieces (TWO more! Seriously this girl is amazing!) to go along with the story but we ran out of time so she wasn't able complete them before things were due. BUT! She and I both agreed that she'll continue to work on them at her leisure and once the bang is over will post them. And they are awesome pieces so look forward to them!
> 
>    
> And now, without further ado, enjoy!

Yuuri hated the forest. It was dark, and creepy, and full of unusual sounds that made him jump every time he heard one—he was trying very hard not to think about what could be causing those sounds. There wasn’t supposed to be anything particularly dangerous in the area of the forest surrounding his village, but he had already been chosen for the task of taking this year’s offering to the Kazuki shrine, so he wasn’t exactly trusting his luck.

Every year, when the last signs of winter had melted away and the weather turned warm enough for the flowers in the trees to start to bloom a child would be chosen to venture into the forest and bring an offering to the Kazuki shrine. In return, the fae that resided in the forest would watch over and protect their village, ensuring they were safe from any harm and blessing their crops for that year so that they were plentiful. It was a tradition as old as the village itself and one its people revered with the utmost importance. Every family hoped that when the time came one of their children would be chosen for the honor, and Yuuri’s parents were no exception. His older sister, Mari, was now too old to be chosen, so when Yuuri’s name had been drawn his parents had been ecstatic. Yuuri on the other hand had been terrified.

And so that was how he found himself in his current predicament, wandering through the dark woods towards the shrine with nothing but a small lantern to light his way. He told himself to keep his attention forward, to focus on where he was going so he could get there faster and go home, but every creak of a branch or rustling of brush had his eyes darting around. His nerves were completely on edge and it was taking everything he had to keep going and not just stop and curl up into a ball. Yuuri had never given much thought to the tradition of his village but at the moment he hated it, what sort of tradition involved sending a young child into the forest alone? And at night no less! He knew the reason, the fae were easily influenced and too long spent in the presence of the wrong emotions could twist and change one into something vile and dangerous. Children were still pure, not yet exposed to the aspects of life that would cause such emotions, so they were not at risk of tainting the fae. Yuuri knew that, and he understood, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

Maybe he could just leave the offering where he was and head back? No one would ever know if he didn’t go the whole way to the shrine, and he had been gone long enough that they shouldn’t question his return. He stopped and looked down at the wrapped bundle in his hand, he could, he could just leave it here and go home, no one would ever know. But then what if something happened? The offering was given as thanks for watching over the village, it was a very tempting thought but what if the fae became angry for not getting their offering and took away their protection? The village would be at risk, and if something were to happen the other villagers would immediately blame Yuuri. His family would be shamed and probably made to leave, Yuuri would never be able to look them in the eye again. No, he couldn’t do that, he had to make it to the shrine, there was no other option.

The knowledge that the fate of his village was dependent on his completing his task in mind, he pressed forward. He could do this, he _had_ to do this. Wanting to get to the shrine as quickly as possible he picked up his pace, forcing himself to keep his eyes forward like he had been telling himself to do since entering the forest. Fate unfortunately, did not seem to be on his side. He hadn’t gone much further when the rumble of thunder caused him to stop and look up. A raindrop landed on his face, followed by another, and another, and then the sky just seemed to let go. With a yelp Yuuri dashed for cover under a nearby tree but the damage was already done, he was soaked completely through, his hair and yukata sticking uncomfortable to his skin. The light in his little lantern flickered weakly before going out completely, plunging him into darkness. That was the final straw. He had kept it together for the sake of his parents, so that they could be proud instead of worried as he ventured into the woods. But his parents weren’t here now, no one was, he was completely and utterly alone and without the lantern to light his way he had no idea which way to go. Feeling helpless he did the one thing he had wanted to do since leaving home. He sank to the ground, drew his knees to his chest, buried his face there, and cried.

He never should have been allowed to do this. When his name was drawn they should have known he would mess up and picked someone else, now the village was going to lose its protection and it would be all his fault—that only made him cry harder. He wanted to go home. He wanted his mother to hold him, to tell him that he had done his best and that everything was all right, that no one was upset with him for having failed. Would he ever see his mother again? Even if he could find the path he had been following he wasn’t sure which way was his village, and in the dark it would be easy to lose it again. He could end up wandering the forest for the rest of his life. A small whimper escaped him as he hugged his knees tighter

“Mama…”

“Could you please stop crying? It’s making me want to cry, and I don’t like crying.”

Breath hitching in surprise Yuuri’s head snapped up, and what he saw made him forget to breath. A boy, maybe a few years older than him, stood a few feet away, but one look at him told Yuuri that he was no ordinary boy. A series of large, different colored leaves were fastened around his waist like a sort of skirt, under which he wore a pair of plain brown trousers that came down to about mid-shin. A long vine snaked around his body, starting from his right leg and working its way up his torso, around his neck, and back down his right arm. Long hair the color of the moon was pulled back into a high ponytail, a few strands left loose to frame his face sticking to his skin from the rain, and atop his head was a crown made of fluffy looking white flowers. He was a sight to behold, but what really stood out where his eyes. They were a bright, striking blue, the color reminding Yuuri of the ocean on a clear, he couldn’t look away. He knew he should, he had always been taught that it was rude to stare but he couldn’t help it, this boy was unlike anyone or anything Yuuri had ever seen. He was stunning, he was unique, he was-

“Beautiful…” Yuuri breathed.

The boy seemed to perk up a that. He made a show of attempting to toss his hair back, but the wet strands continued to cling to his skin, he didn’t seem to notice.

“Why thank you,” he said, then seemed to look at Yuuri more closely. “What’s a little one like you doing all the way out here?”

There was a part of Yuuri that wanted to point out that the boy wasn’t that much taller than him, but he kept it to himself.

“I… I got lost…” he said instead. “I… I was going to the Kazuki shrine when it started raining so I hid here.”

The boy tilted his head to the side. “Why were you going there?”

Yuuri sniffled. “To… To leave the offering. But… But now I… I don’t know which way to go.”

Fresh tears fell from his eyes as thoughts of never getting home and seeing his family plagued his mind again. The boy took a step back and looked around uncertainly, almost nervously, Yuuri was sure he was going to leave him there. He wasn’t the boy’s problem after all so why should he be concerned with a lost child? Yuuri buried his face in his knees again, if the boy _was_ going to leave then he didn’t want to see it. He heard movement, and then felt something brush lightly against his hand. Startled he looked up and just barely kept himself from shouting in alarm. The boy had moved closer and was now kneeling in front of him with his hand outstretched towards him, his fingers twitched like he was going to pull his hand back but he didn’t. He looked very uncertain, maybe even a little afraid, Yuuri watched him silently.

“I’m… Not very good with crying,” the boy said. “What should I do?”

Yuuri sniffled. “I…”

He didn’t know what to say, what _could_ he say? Yuuri had never had to comfort someone before—he was usually the one being comforted—and asking for help was out of the question. The boy was clearly some sort of fae, he had been too surprised by his sudden appearance to realize it at the time, but now Yuuri was sure of it. And asking them for help was never a good idea. Not because they wouldn’t, but because they would expect something in return, something that they believed to be of equal value. Which of course could be anything from a pretty stone to your first-born child, or so Yuuri had always been told. Either way Yuuri was not about to put himself in that sort of situation.

The fae boy watched him, he was still waiting for an answer to his question but when it became apparent he wasn’t going to get one he let out a thoughtful hum and looked around. The loon on his face reminded Yuuri of the other children in his village when they would look around to make sure no one was watching them before doing something they shouldn’t do. Did that mean there were others nearby? Yuuri’s eyes darted around, but he sill couldn’t see anything pas the fae boy—who Yuuri belatedly realized he could see clearly. His body seemed to be giving off a faint glow, making him stand out in contrast to the dark forest around them. The effect made him look even more ethereal than Yuuri had first though.

“You said the Kazuki shrine, right?” the fae boy asked, drawing Yuuri’s attention back to him. He nodded.

“Y-Yes.”

“And you don’t know which way to go?”

Yuuri shook his head. “No.”

Humming in thought again the boy tilted his head to the side and tapped at his lip with a finger, his eyes studying Yuuri closely. Yuuri resisted shrinking back under his gaze, but only just. They stayed like that for several moments before the boy suddenly lowered his hand and righted his head.

“Well then I’ll just have to take you there!” he declared loudly, causing Yuuri to jump.

Yuuri stared wide eyed at the boy, who was smiling like he had just been given a large bag of treats and looking very pleased with himself. Yuuri felt anything boy. Accepting help from a far was a mistake, every story he had ever heard about them said as much, how did he know the fae boy would even take him to the shrine? He could take Yuuri further into the woods and leave him there or lead him to some hungry beast and offer him up as a snack. No, Yuuri was _not_ going to let that happen. Mustering up whatever courage he had—which admittedly wasn’t much at the moment—he sat up a little straighter and shook his head.

“No thank you,” he said, pleased when his voice came out even and didn’t give away just how nervous he was.

The fae boy’s smile fell, brow furrowing and head tilting to the side again he looked at Yuuri in confusion.

“But… You’re lost, aren’t you?”

“I’ll find my way.”

The fae boy looked even more confused, not that Yuuri could really blame him. Just moments ago he had been crying because he was scared and didn’t know what to do, not someone was offering to help him and he was turning them down. Logically it didn’t make a bit of sense, but Yuuri refused to be indebted to a fae. Surely it couldn’t be that hard to find his way again. When the rain had started he had dashed for the first tree that would offer him cover and had found one rather quickly, that meant he couldn’t be too far from the path. All he had to do was find it, pick a direction, and hope it took him to the shrine. Even if he picked wrong and ended up back at the village all he had to do was turn around. It would take longer, but he didn’t se what other choice he had. Although… he still couldn’t see, and had no way of relighting his lantern which meant following the path would be near impossible, and if he wandered off he path again… He quickly pushed that thought from his mind, he had to stop thinking like that. First he had to find the path and then he could worry about staying on it, if he took his time and kept calm then surely he could-

“It’s because I’m not human isn’t it?” the fae boy’s voice broke through his thoughts, Yuuri had almost forgotten he was there. Yuuri blinked and focused on him.

“Um…”

“You believe the stories you humans tell, don’t you? To never trust a fae? Because we’re incapable of offering help without wanting something in return.”

Yuuri felt his cheeks grow warm, the fae boy had hit it right on the nose, though he wasn’t about to admit it. Making a fae angry could be worse than asking for their help, that was when they turned your nose into a mushroom, or your hair into snakes, or bestowed some other horrible curse on you. The thought made Yuuri shiver.

“We’re not all like that you know,” the fae boy spoke again, and there was a tone in his voice Yuuri couldn’t place. “I mean, sure some ask a favor in return, but they’re rarely as drastic as your stories suggest. And is it really so wrong to ask for something in exchange for something? Isn’t that how you humans live anyway?”

Yuuri didn’t have a response for that. It was true that humans bought from and traded with each other all the time, it was the only way to get some of the things they needed in order to survive, but it wasn’t the same as what the fae did. They asked for difficult things, things they didn’t actually need but asked for anyway just for the sake of making things harder for the human asking their help.

“We don’t ask for first-born children,” Yuuri said before he could stop himself, and right away he knew it was the wrong thing to say. The fae boy didn’t look angry but his shoulders slumped as he visibly deflated, his glow even seemed to dim a little. He looked away from Yuuri

“I guess it’s true, humans really are simple minded and believe the worst of everything. You think someone can’t possibly want to help just for the sake of helping.”

There was that tone again, Yuuri tilted his head slightly as he studied the fae boy. Was he… sad?

“I’ve always wanted to meet a human but was forbidden from going near any villages. So, when I saw you I thought this could be my chance, but I guess I was wrong.”

The fae boy stood suddenly and Yuuri felt his panic return as he realized what was happening, the fae boy was going to leave! If he left then Yuuri would be all alone again, and though moments ago he had told himself he could find his way on his own, the idea of being alone terrified him more than accepting help from a fae. So, when the fae boy started to turn away Yuuri didn’t hesitate to call out.

“W-wait!” The fae boy paused but didn’t turn back around. “I… I’m sorry. I… I’ve always been told not to… You… really just want to help me?”

The fae boy turned back around and looked down at Yuuri, his expression unreadable. After a moment he knelt back down, his eyes watching Yuuri carefully.

“Do you want my help?”

Yuuri sniffled as he returned the fae boy’s gaze, he certain _seemed_ sincere about helping him, maybe… he really could trust him? In any case it was too late now, he had already stopped the fae boy from leaving so turning him down now would just be cruel. With a final sniff he gave a small nod.

“Y-yes please…”

The fae boy smiled. “What’s your name?”

Yuuri hesitated for just a moment before answering. “Yuuri.”

“Yuuri,” the fae boy repeated, his smile grew wider. “I like it! My name is Victor.”

“Victor?” Yuuri couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice, it was such a normal name, and yet it seemed to suit the fae boy perfectly.

“That’s right!” Now that Yuuri had agreed to let him help he seemed energized, brighter. He brought a hand up towards Yuuri’s face and using the back of his index finger he wiped away a stray tear that escaped from Yuuri’s eye. “Well Yuuri, allow me to be your guide.”

Yuuri stared at him. He was still a little unsure about accepting the fae boy’s—Victor’s—help, but the smile he was giving Yuuri was so bright, and his touch so gentle that despite his reservations he couldn’t help it, he gave a small smile of his own.

“Okay.”

 

It didn’t take them long to get back to the path once Victor got Yuuri on his feet, and even less time for Victor to determine which direction they needed to go. Yuuri had been right about not being far from the path, but in the dark it was still unlikely he would have found it by himself. Yuuri trailed a few steps behind Victor as they walked, the parcel containing the offering clutched close to his chest. He had left the lantern behind, it wasn’t really of much use now and Victor insisted he didn’t need it anyway. The storm had quieted to a light drizzle and Yuuri suspected even that wouldn’t last much longer, not that it really mattered since he was already soaked through. Still it would be nice to not have rain constantly falling on his head.

They were silent as they walked, and while it didn’t bother him at first, the pattering of rain on leaves and the squelch of their footsteps being the only sounds was starting to get to him, but what could he do? He had never been good at starting conversations—or maintaining them for that matter—and nothing he could say could possibly be of interest to a being like Victor so in the end he elected to remain quiet. Victor glanced back at him a few times, looking like he wanted to say something, even opening his mouth a few times to speak, but each time he would say nothing and look forward again. The longer they went in silence however, the more frequently Victor looked back until finally he seemed to have had enough. Without missing a step he turned around, now walking backwards, and focused his attention on Yuuri.

“So, tell me about yourself Yuuri.”

Yuuri didn’t respond right away, too focused on Victor and worrying that he was going to run into something, but Victor kept the same pace he had been walking and seemed completely unconcerned. Pushing his own concerns aside Yuuri shook his head.

“There’s not much to tell really.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Victor persisted. “Just say anything.”

“Um… Well… My dad is a fisherman, and my mom makes the best food. Um…” He paused when he noticed Victor giving him an odd look. “What?”

“What are those things you said?”

“Things?”

“Dad and mom.”

Yuuri stared at him, was he being serious?

“They’re my parents.” When Victor continued to look confused realization slowly dawned on him. “Do… Do you not have parents Victor?”

Victor shrugged. “I don’t know, what’s a parent?”

Yuuri was at loss of what to say, how could he not know what a parent was? He couldn’t exist if he didn’t have parents, right?

“A parent is… Um…” He had to think for a moment, how did one explain a parent? “A parent raises and takes care of their child. They make sure their child is happy and worries when their child is hurt or sick. Do you have someone like that?”

Victor gave a thoughtful hum. “I have Yakov. He’s looked after me my whole life, though I don’t think he’s a parent.”

“A parent doesn’t have to be related to you. So long as they love and care for you it still counts.”

“Loves and cares for… Huh, that’s very interesting. You taught me something new Yuuri, thank you!”

He flashed Yuuri a bright smile as he said this, and Yuuri couldn’t help the embarrassed flush that crept on to his cheeks.

“You… You’re welcome…”

“But I still don’t know anything about you.”

Yuuri blinked. “Huh?”

“I want to know about _you_ Yuuri. What do you do? What do you like?”

“Oh. Well… I’m just a kid so I don’t really do much. I help my mom sometimes.”

“Help with what?”

Yuuri shrugged. “Cooking and cleaning mostly.”

Victor wrinkled his nose. “That doesn’t sound like fun.”

“I don’t mind it. And mom likes when I help.”

“But that can’t be all you do, what do you do for _fun_?

Yuuri looked down as he thought, what _did_ he do for fun? He went out with Yuuko and Takeshi a lot, but he mostly just tagged along to whatever they were doing. But what did he himself enjoy doing? He had never really thought about it.

“I… I like to dance I guess.”

The moment the words were out of his mouth Yuuri regretted them. Dancing? What a silly thing to admit liking, especially for a boy! But Victor didn’t seem to mind, in fact he perked up in interest and his eyes widened in excitement.

“Really? I love to dance! We’re known for out grace you know.

“Oh.”

Yuuri didn’t know what else to say to that. So little was known about the fae, and if what Victor told him before was true then much of what they _did_ know was wrong. If the fae were known for their grace then it wasn’t known by humans, lthough watching the way Victor walked he could easily believe it. He hardly made a sound when he walked, and the way he moved had a sort of elegance to it, even when he was excited. Yuuri supposed he could see him as a dancer, or at the very least believe he was good at it. He certainly had to be better than Yuuri in any case.

Victor abruptly stopped walking and looked off into the woods, Yuuri stopped as well and looked around. The trees were a bit thinner here, letting in just enough moonlight that he could see the trees closest to the path—one of them he noticed had a spot where the bark was missing that if he tilted his head to the side looked a little like a bird—but beyond them it was still black. After a moment he looked at Victor.

“Why did we stop?” he asked as he turned to follow the other boy’s gaze. When they had started off together Victor had said he didn’t need Yuuri’s lantern to see by, so Yuuri had assumed that meant the other boy was natural able to see in the dark. Was he staring off into the woods because he had seen something? Yuuri took a small step back, suddenly very nervous, but when Victor looked at him again he didn’t look worried so Yuuri hoped that meant there was nothing out there to be afraid of.

“I want to show you something.”

Before Yuuri had a chance to respond Victor grabbed one of his hands and tugged him forward, off, the path, and into the woods. Yuuri stumbled the first few steps before getting his feet under him, his nerves from a moment ago turned to panic as Victor all but dragged him through the trees. He was about to yank his hand away and demand what was going on when Victor flanked back at him and gave him a reassuring smile.

“It’s okay, you’ll like this.

Yuuri looked at him, certain that his fear and uncertainty was clear as day on his face, he didn’t like this, he didn’t like this at all. His thoughts from before of Victor taking him into the woods and leaving him or leading him to the jaws of a hungry beast returned and he quickly shoved them away. So far Victor hadn’t given any indication that he meant Yuuri any harm—and had actually been upset that Yuuri thought as much—so he had to trust that that remained true now. Giving a small nod he continued to allow Victor to lead him.

They were silent as they went but Yuuri’s mind was racing. Where were they going? What could Victor possibly want to show him? Should he ask? Or should he just wait? Should he be worried? Victor had said he would like what he was going to show him, but would he? And why-

He felt Victor give his hand a squeeze, drawing his attention to the other boy and his marathon of thoughts stopped. Victor was still looking ahead of them, his attention focused on whatever destination was ahead of them. Yuuri watched him for a moment before suddenly remembering, fae were able to sense emotions. Which meant Victor had sensed his distress and by squeezing his hand had meant to comfort him. Yuuri couldn’t help but smile before giving a small squeeze of thanks in return.

They had only walked for a few minutes before Victor’s hurried pace began to slow, soon coming to a stop before a large wall of brush that was… shimmering? Yuuri stared at it, closing and opening his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, it was definitely shimmering, reminding him a bit of ripples on water. He stared at it for a long time, waiting for Victor to give some sort of explanation. When none came he looked over at the other boy.

“What is this?”

“This,” he said as he moved to stand in front of Yuuri, spreading his arms wide and smiling. “Is the entrance to the fae realm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kazuki: 和 (kazu) meaning "harmony, peace" and 希 (ki) meaning "hope"
> 
> It seemed a fitting name based on what the shrine is used for.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The small village of Hasetsu has one tradition. Every year when winter ends and spring begins a child is chosen to take an offering to the Kazuki shrine as thanks to the fae that reside in the forest surrounding the village for their protection and good fortune. When Yuuri is chosen to take the offering he's determined to succeed, even though all he wants to do is crawl under his bed and hide. So when he gets lost in a sudden storm he fears that he's doomed to fail and bring shame to his family until he meets a young fae with hair the color of the moon who offers to help him.
> 
> Years later the two reunite and the young fae, now grown, takes up temporary residence in Yuuri's village in order to spend more time with him. But there's the fae are supposed to keep their distance from humans. Will the two be able to maintain their budding friendship, or will the darkness that lies in human's hearts tear them apart?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again promoting [the art](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/post/175111451883/my-pieces-for-yurionicebigbang-2018-this-is-my) because seriously it's amazing (and because the one piece is more relevant in this chapter).

“The fae realm?” Yuuri asked puzzled, Victor nodded.

“That’s right, the home to all fae.”

Yuuri studied the shimmering brush then looked at Victor. “Why are we here?”

“I thought you might like to see it.”

Yuuri’s eyes went wide. “W-What?”

His gaze shifted back towards he brush, go to the fae realm? He was human, he had no business going anywhere _near_ the realm of the fae. It was bad enough he was imposing on one to act as his guide—even if Victor had insisted on it—but to trespass into their realm? He couldn’t even fathom the idea. Victor lowered his arms and tilted his head, looking puzzled.

“Yuuri?

Yuuri startled slightly, Victor was waiting for him to respond. He looked between Victor and the entrance to the fae realm a few times before finally dropping his gaze to the ground.

“I… I can’t…”

Victor furrowed his brow. “Why not?”

“Because… Because I’m human,” he said, wondering why that answer wasn’t obvious.

“Oh don’t worry about that, come on!”

And once again before Yuuri had a chance to react Victor grabbed his hand and pulled him forward towards the entrance. Yuuri let out a cry of alarm as he stumbled after Victor, quickly lifting his gaze in time to see the other boy disappear through the shimmering wall of magic. Right before Yuuri passed through himself he shut his eyes tightly. He felt no resistance, but all the sound around him had become muffled as if he had been submerged in water and there was a slight tingling on his skin. But almost as soon as he felt it it was gone.

“You can open your eyes, Yuuri.”

Yuuri jumped, he somehow hadn’t realized that he and Victor had stopped moving. He hesitated before slowly opening his eyes, trying to prepare himself for what he was about to see, and felt his breath catch in his throat. They had emerged at the edge of a large field of flowers, the likes of which Yuuri had never seen before. Pure white, the main petals curled upward—reminding Yuuri a bit of a water lily—while thinner petals both long and short around the base stuck out, making the whole thing look like a starburst. They were the most beautiful flowers Yuuri had ever seen. But the most amazing thing about these flowers was how they seemed to glow, bright and vibrant under the rays of the full moon.

“What do you think?” Victor asked, his voice hushed.

“It… It’s incredible,” Yuuri responded, voice full of awe. Victor smiled.

“I knew you would like it. Come on.”

He started walking forward, leading Yuuri towards the field, but after only a few steps Yuuri suddenly stopped and refused to budge. Victor looked back at him,

“Yuuri?”

“I… I really shouldn’t… Human’s aren’t supposed to be here. I… I might hurt the flowers, or taint them, or-“

“Yuuri, Yuuri it’s okay,” Victor said as he stepped towards him. “You’re right, humans normally shouldn’t be here, but trust me when I say it’s okay for you to be.”

“But-“ Yuuri started, but paused when Victor gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I can feel the purity in your heart, you’re no more threat to this place than I am. And the fact that you’re so concerned about it only further confirms what I already know. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I thought it would cause a problem.”

Yuuri’s cheeks grew warm, and this time he was sure Victor could see it clear as day, but the other boy didn’t comment on it. Instead he started walking backwards, trying again to guide Yuuri towards the field of flowers and this time Yuuri went with him. A light breeze began to blow as they walked, rustling the flowers and surrounding the two of them in their scent, Yuuri closed his eyes and breathed in. There was a sweetness, mixed with an obvious floral scene, but there was something else there as well. Something that Yuuri couldn’t place but brought to him thoughts of his mother, holding him and singing quietly to him as he tried to fall asleep. Not for the first time that night he wished he was home with her.

Victor coming to a stop broke him out of his thoughts. He opened his eyes, looking first towards the other boy and then glanced around them. They were almost in the middle of the field, the way they had come through a good distance behind them. Now that they were closer Yuuri was surprised to learn that the flowers didn’t just look like they were glowing, but in fact actually were. They were even more beautiful up close. Pulling his gaze away from the flowers he looked at Victor again, tilting his head quizzically.

“Why did we stop?”

“I want to show you something.”

Victor released his hand and backed away until he was about eight or ten feet away. He flashed Yuuri a smile before closing his eyes and bowing his head, Yuuri watched intrigued. Victor stood like that for several seconds and then he slowly lifted his head, raised his arms, and _danced_ , a small gasp escaped Yuuri’s lips. He moved to music only he could hear; every twist and turn of his body, every stretch of his arms every lift of his legs was the very picture of elegance. The way he danced reminded him of Minako, his mother’s childhood friend who had gone off when she and his mother were younger to study dance. She had traveled and performed all over and was always happy to share her stories when asked (or if she had had too much to drink). Now the only time she really danced was at the festivals, although if someone came to her wanting to learn she would gladly teach them. Yuuri had always been curious, but the other young boys in the village made fun of the elegant movements, saying that kind of dancing was girly, so Yuuri had never asked to learn.

But watching Victor now he realized how big of a mistake that had been. Yes the movements were different from the up-beat, folk type steps done at the festivals, and Yuuri had no doubt that if he were to try he would look silly. But as Victor continued to dance, his hair fluttering around him in time with his movements, almost looking like it was dancing itself, you couldn’t deny the beauty of what he was doing. Yuuri was unable to look away. Victor finished his current set of spins and looked towards Yuuri, his smile wide and bright, then dashed over to him and took his hands.

“Dance with me Yuuri!”

Yuuri let out a small, startled cry as he was suddenly yanked forward, causing him to trip over his own feet as he tried to keep himself from falling.

“Victor I… I can’t. I don’t know how to dance like that.”

“So then dance how you like! There’s no right or wrong way of dancing.”

Keeping his grip on Yuuri’s hands he twirled them around, and Yuuri’s feet once again struggled to keep up. Victor laughed as he guided Yuuri through a few steps that were a bit more familiar to him, seeming to particularly enjoy spinning Yuuri under his arm. It didn’t take long for Yuuri to get the hang of the dance Victor seemed to be making up as he went and soon he was laughing as well, his earlier worries and fears forgotten. This was the happiest he had felt all evening since setting out for the shrine.

Feeling suddenly emboldened Yuuri switched their positions, taking the lead in their dance and getting to watch as Victor now had to keep up with _him_. There was a falter in his steps and his eyes widened in surprise for less than a second before he was smiling again and easily following Yuuri’s lead. They continued to switch back and forth as they danced their way around the field, from the flowers came glittering pollen that swirled all around them when the wind caught it, Yuuri gasped at the sight. He didn’t know how long they danced, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours, he was having so much fun it didn’t matter, he never wanted it to end. But when he tried to stifle a yawn into his shoulder Victor’s eyes softened and he slowed their movements.

“It’s late,” he said. “We should get you to the shrine.”

Yuuri looked at him, disappointment settling in his chest but he nodded anyway. Even though he hated it his task was important, and it needed to be completed. Keeping hold of one of his hands Victor began to lead him back towards the gateway that would take them back to the forest, pausing for just a moment so Yuuri could collect the parcel containing the offering from where he had dropped it when Victor had suddenly pulled him into a dance. At the edge of the field Victor paused, released Yuuri’s hand, and knelt down. Yuuri looked over but before he could question him Victor was standing again, one of the glowing flowers held in his hands. With a smile Victor brought the flower up and tucked the stem behind Yuuri’s ear, Yuuri lifted a hand to brush his fingers gently across the petals.

“Is… Is it okay?” he asked, unsure about removing the flower from its home. Victor nodded.

“They won’t miss one flower.”

There was the light tingling again, sounds once again became muffled, and everything around him became wavy and distorted. It took only a few steps for them to pass through the gateway and before Yuuri knew it they were back in the forest. Yuuri blinked a few times as his eyes worked to adjust to the sudden dark after having been in a field of luminescent flowers. Once Yuuri confirmed that he was ready Victor began to lead the way back towards the path, Yuuri realizing after a moment that Victor had yet to let go of his hand. Yuuri didn’t comment on it.

They walked in a comfortable silence, a far cry from how they had been earlier when Yuuri had been so worried and anxious of Victor’s intentions behind helping him. Not that his fears had been entirely invalid. Victor had said that not all fae were prone to mischief and trickery, which meant that there were some that were. Yuuri had simply been lucky to have been found by one that wasn’t interested in such things.

Gradually the area around them grew lighter as the trees became thinner and soon Yuuri was able to see a little of what was around him. The shrine soon came into view ahead of them and Yuuri felt both relief and disappointment. Relief because his task was almost over and he could go home, disappointment because soon he and Victor would have to pat ways and Yuuri wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Once they did it was unlikely they would ever see each other again, a realization that had him lowering his gaze towards the ground.

The shrine wasn’t much, a simple wooden structure, open on all four sides and sat atop a plain stone base, in the middle of the small shrine was an even smaller pedestal upon which Yuuri was meant to place the offering. All together the whole thing wasn’t much bigger than Yuuri, who was rather small to begin with. The ground around the stone base was overgrown and covered with dead leaves and fallen twigs. Vines had begun to crawl their way up the stone base and the shine itself had a few leaves that had been blown inside it.

Pushing away his sadness Yuuri immediately set to work, starting with the shrine. He plucked the leaves from inside, dropping them on the ground before brushing away any that had stuck to the roof. Next, using a branch he found like a broom he began to sweep away the dead leaves, kicking away any that stubbornly refused to be swept away by his makeshift broom. Victor watched him for several minutes before stepping forward and kneeling down, he started to gather an armful of leaves but Yuuri stopped him. At the quizzical look Victor gave him Yuuri explained that cleaning the shrine and the area around it was part of his task and was something he had to do alone.

“It’s another way we show our thanks to the fae,” Yuuri explained when Victor continued to stare at him. “The offering is the main thing, but it wouldn’t be right to leave it in a messy shrine.”

“And what is it you’re thanking us for?”

“Well, for looking out for us. For protecting us from the dangers of the forest, ensuring our crops are good and that our fishermen bring home fish. Those sorts of things.”

Victor let out a thoughtful him, he looked to be debating something and was about to speak but with a shake of his head seemed to think better of it. He dropped the leaves he had been gathering, got back to his feet, and stepped back out of the way to allow Yuuri to continue.

Since the area was small it took Yuuri less than an hour to get it cleaned up and looking presentable. Tossing the last of the vines pulled from the stone base away Yuuri let out a sigh and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. He took a step back to look over his work, making sure he hadn’t missed anything before nodding in approval, all that was left was the offering. Wiping his hands on his clothes he retrieved the small bundle from where he had left it beneath a nearby tree and then approached the shrine. Standing before the shrine he held the offering up, bowed his head, and closed his eyes, giving silent thanks from his village before raising his head again and opening his eyes again. He stepped towards the shrine, gingerly placed the offering on the pedestal, then stepped back again and sank to his knees. Again he closed his eyes and bowed his head in another silent thanks before placing his hands flat on the ground and bowing forward until his forehead touched the ground. He remained like that for a full minute before rising back up and sitting back on his ankles to gaze at the shrine for a long moment before letting out a sigh. It was finally done.

“Wow,” Victor said after a while, causing Yuuri to jump. He looked over to see the other boy staring at him in wonder. Yuuri’s cheeks grew warm.

“What?”

“It’s just… I knew humans sometimes worshiped or revered us, but to actually see it… It’s something else.”

Yuuri’s blush deepened as he got to his feet, he didn’t think what he had just done was anything special, it was merely tradition. Though he supposed to an outside eye it would be an interesting thing to see. Yuuri felt a small bit a pride at having been the one to show it to Victor.

“So what happens now?” Victor asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you left the offering, so now what?”

“Oh. Um…”

And here it was, the moment Yuuri had been dreading. It was funny, since leaving home he had wanted nothing more than to return there, but now that he had met Victor all he wanted was a little more time. Time to talk with him, to learn more about him and his kind, there was so much Yuuri could ask and now he was mentally kicking himself for not having done so before.

“That… That’s it, there’s nothing else. Now I… I go home…”

“Oh…”

Was he imagining it, or did Victor sound as sad as he was feeling about their impending separation? Glancing over he felt his chest tighten the slightest bit at the dejected look on Victor’s face and knew he hadn’t imagined it, Victor was just as upset as he was that they were going to have to part. But what could they do? Humans and fae weren’t supposed to interact, even if Yuuri was a child and less likely to corrupt a fae Victor had still put himself at risk by exposing himself to a human for so long. Logically Yuuri knew this was it, that he and Victor needed to say their goodbyes and go their separate ways, and yet…

“I… I don’t have to go right away,” he blurted out before he could stop himself, Victor looked at him in surprise.

“What?”

“I… Well… We could sit for a bit? I-I mean… If you want to. Although I… I’m sure you need to get back. You’re probably not supposed to be out here this long and-“

“I’d like that,” Victor cut him off, Yuuri blinked at him.

“What?”

“I said I’d like that, sitting for a little while. But won’t your family be worried about you? You’ve been gone a long time by now right?”

Victor was right. The task of taking the offering to the shrine usually only took a couple hours, which included the time it took cleaning it, but Yuuri had been gone for at least double that. No doubt his parents and the rest of the villagers were starting to wonder what was taking him so long, and he felt guilty for causing them any worry, but Victor was willing to stay with him a little longer and Yuuri desperately wanted that time. He always did what he was told, never spoke out of line and was always respectful of the adults in his village. Just this once he decided to be a little selfish, he would make it up to them later.

“It’ll be all right,” he reassured the other boy. “If they ask I’ll tell them I got lost, which is technically true.”

He gave Victor a small smile and waited, would Victor still want to sit with him for a while? Or would he insist that Yuuri return home so as not to worry his loved ones further? If Victor chose the later then Yuuri wouldn’t push the issue, though he would be sorely disappointed. Victor looked at him for several minutes, considering, before his lips quirked up into a smile of his own.

“Okay then.”

It took every ounce of willpower Yuuri had not to jump and shout for joy as happiness exploded in his chest. He got to spend a little more time with Victor! Victor tilted his head to the side, one eyebrow raised as the look on his face shifted to one of amusement. Yuuri was confused for half a second before remembering that fae could sense emotions, which meant Victor was very aware of how he was feeling right at that moment. Yuuri covered his face as it went bright red and Victor laughed good naturedly. Shortly after the two were settled under a tree and once Yuuri got over his embarrassment he was able to ask Victor some of the questions on his mind.

He learned that Victor was a forest nymph, which were considered the highest ranking amongst the fae. Forest nymphs controlled all plant life, which Victor demonstrated by creating a blanket of soft moss for them to cover up with. They watched over the wildlife, ensuring a certain balance was maintained, and oversaw the other fae and made sure they were performing their proper duties. Victor was still young by fae standards, so he wasn’t too involved in all that yet, but Yakov, his mentor and caretaker since he had been born from the Great Tree, was insistent that he start learning soon. When Yuuri tilted his head at the mention of the Great Tree, Victor explained that all fae were born from what they were known for. So as a forest nymph he had been born from a tree. He winked when Yuuri asked why the tree he had been born from was called the Great Tree and said that it was a secret.

Yuuri also learned a bit about the fae realm, like how the seasons stayed the same depending on the area—Victor primarily resided in the area of spring. The flowers they had danced in were called Lunar Flowers, named because they only opened at night and glowed bright under the light of the full moon. Yuuri had reached up to touch the flower still tucked behind his ear as Victor spoke of them. The gateway between their worlds only opened under a specific circumstance but like with the Great Tree Victor couldn’t tell him what that was, Yuuri swallowed down his disappointment at that. As nice as it would have been to be able to see Victor again he understood why Victor couldn’t tell him. Yuuri could let slip about it and then others would seek out the fae realm, or someone could follow him and learn of it that way. Victor did look apologetic though when he said he couldn’t tell Yuuri when the gateway opened so Yuuri took some comfort in that.

Yuuri listened intently to everything Victor told him. Before tonight he had never been all that interested in the fae but now he wanted to know everything. At some point he leaned his head against Victor’s shoulder, allowing himself to relax to the sound of Victor’s voice as he told Yuuri of the time he grew a tree under Yakov while he was napping because he thought it would get him out of his lessons. Yakov had struggled between being angry and impressed that Victor had done something so advanced and as a result had increased his lessons. Yuuri didn’t have to look up to see the pout he could hear in Victor’s voice as he said the last part and couldn’t help but laugh. He let his eyes slip shut as Victor began his next story, telling himself it would only be for a minute. The sound of his name being said as if from a distance caught is attention and he cracked one eye open.

He was no longer sitting against the tree but instead was lying beside it on a patch of moss he was pretty sure hadn’t been there when they sat down. The forest was bright around him, beams of sunlight shown down through the trees as birds sang above him. He sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as the moss blanket Victor had made slipped from his shoulders and pooled around his lap. Yuuri froze, Victor. Suddenly much more awake he dropped his hand from his face and looked around, confirming what he had already been expecting. Victor was gone. Yuuri looked down towards the moss blanket as tears prickled at his eyes. Why hadn’t Victor woken him up before leaving? Did something happened that forced him to leave? Or had he gotten tired of Yuuri’s company and used him falling asleep to sneak away? Yuuri didn’t want to believe the second option, if Victor had wanted to leave then he wouldn’t have agreed to stay. Right? No, Victor had _wanted_ to stay, Yuuri was sure of it, and then he had to go and ruin it by falling asleep. It was likely he was never going to see Victor again and he hadn’t even been able to say goodbye. The tears that had been threatening to fall finally won out, slipping from his eyes before he could stop them and once they started he didn’t want to. He brought his knees up to his chest and buried his face there as he wept, suddenly feeling as alone as he had last night before Victor found him.

“Yuuri!”

Yuuri let out a gasp, his head snapping up as he heard his name called, suddenly rembering that hearing his name was what had awoken him in the first place. He sat still, listening. The voice had been familiar.

“Yuuri where are you?!”

Yuuri wiped his eyes and scrambled to his feet, the voice was closer now and he definitely knew it.

“Mom!” he called.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps and the next moment his mother came into view, fresh tears fell from his eyes but these were for a completely different reason.

“Yuuri!”

His mother rushed to him, her own tears of relief falling as she took him in her arms and wrapped him in a tight embrace.

“Yuuri… Oh my little boy we’ve been so worried! When you didn’t come back I thought… Oh Yuuri, what happened?”

Yuuri clung to his mother as he cried into her shoulder, he wanted to explain, to tell her he had gotten lost and how scared he had been. But all he could do was apologize over and over, his words becoming more incoherent the harder he cried.

“Shh… It’s all right sweetheart,” his mother murmured as she rubbed soothing circles in his back. “It’s all right, you’re safe now.”

“Hiroko?”

He felt his mother shift as she turned her head in the direction of another all too familiar voice.

“Here Toshiya. He’s here, he’s safe.”

Yuuri lifted his head to see his father and a few other villagers come into view. Like his mother there was relief in his father’s eyes, though he didn’t cry. He came over and embraced both of them, causing a fresh wave of tears to fall from Yuuri’s eyes. Yuuri didn’t know how long they stayed like that, but it still felt like much too soon when his parents slowly pulled away, though he refused to completely let go of his mother.

“Yuuri,” his father spoke gently. “What happened? Why didn’t you come home?”

Yuuri sniffled and wiped at his eyes. “I… It started raining. I ran under a tree to get out of the rain and lost track of which way to go.”

“Then how did you find your way?”

“Victor helped me.”

The moment the words were out he slapped a hand over his mouth and his eyes wet wide, he hadn’t planned on telling anyone about Victor. His parents looked startled, they exchanged looks before directing their gazes at their son.

“Who is Victor?” his mother asked. Yuuri slowly lowered his hand.

“I… He…” He bit his lip, unsure of what he should say.

“Yuuri,” his father said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Who is Victor?”

Yuuri looked at his parents, then at the other villagers standing nearby, then back at his parents. They were all waiting for him to speak, to explain. He supposed he didn’t have much of a choice now.

“He’s… a fae… With hair like the moon and eyes like the sea. He found me when I was crying and scared and helped me get to the shrine.”

His parents once again exchanged looks and he could tell right away that they didn’t believe him. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“I think your boy may be running a fever Toshiya,” one of the villagers said. “Best to get him home and to bed.”

His father looked towards them. “Yes I think you’re right. Come along Yuuri.”

He placed a hand on Yuuri’s back, intending to guide him away but Yuuri stood his ground. He hadn’t intended on telling anyone about Victor, but now that he had he didn’t want them to think he was making things up.

“But dad it’s true!” he insisted. “Victor is a fae, a forest nymph. He found me lost in the woods and offered to help me. We danced in a field of Lunar Flowers and then he brought me to the shrine!”

“Yuuri, that’s enough,” his mother said. Her voice was gentle, but there was an undertone that allowed for no argument. “You’re tired and have been through a lot. Let’s get you home.”

Yuuri looked at her for a moment then looked down and nodded, this time allowing himself to be led away. He lifted a hand to his head, reaching for the flower Victor had tucked there and felt his breath hitch when he discovered it was no longer there. His head snapped up.

“Wait!” he cried, startling his parents and the villagers. He ducked out of his mother’s hold and dashed back to the tree where he and Victor had sat the night before. Upon first glance he didn’t see the flower and he felt his heart begin to sink. He knelt down and began rummaging amongst the leaves, brushing them aside quickly in his search.

“Yuuri stop it, what are you doing?”

He could hear the worry in his mother’s voice and felt a twinge of guilt, but he kept searching. The flower was all he had to remember Victor and the time they had shared, he couldn’t have lost it, he couldn’t! In a final act of desperation, he grabbed the moss blanket and threw it aside, his panic instantly evaporated into relief. The flower was there, nestled in the moss bedding Victor had created for him, its petals now closed. He reached out and picked it up ever so tenderly, as if he were picking up a precious jewel. Flower safely in hand he got to his feet and turned back around. His parents and the villagers were looking at him as if he had gone mad, he felt his cheeks grow warm.

“S-Sorry…” he murmured but gave no explanation for his actions.

He walked back over to his parents, gently cradling the flower against his chest and content now to led them lead him away. Looks were exchanged by the adults but no words were said. His parents each wrapped an arm around him and together they all made their way back towards the village. Everyone else in the village was relieved to see Yuuri return safely and clamored around him wanting to know what happened. Yuuri pressed himself into his mother’s side while his father implored everyone to give them space, saying that Yuuri had been through a lot and right now they needed to get him home. Eventually they relented and the three were allowed to slip away to their home. Once there his mother immediately began to fuss. She sat him down, wrapped him in the warmest blanket they had, and set about heating some water so Yuuri could wash up. He had to admit, the warm bath felt heavenly. While he washed his mother cooked, making him all his favorites and insisting he eat everything. They didn’t ask about what happened, didn’t try and get the truth they thought he was hiding from them out, they just seemed happy to take care of him. Mari eventually came over, flicking him first in the forehead for causing so much trouble and then hugging him to show she was glad he was safe.

It was some time before Yuuri, now warm and thoroughly stuffed, was able to get escape to his room. He didn’t begrudge his parents need to dote on him, he knew he had worried them, but there was only so much he could take before it became too much, and only by insisting he was tired and wanted to lie down for a while did they let him go.

Yuuri sat on the edge of his bed, the Lunar Flower Victor had gifted him in his hands, he would have to find some way of saving it. He set the flower gently on the small table beside his bed before flopping back to stare at his ceiling. When his name had been drawn, decreeing him as the next offering bearer he had been terrified, certain he was going to mess up. And he almost had. If Victor hadn’t of found him and been so insistent on helping he would have been found under that first tree rather than the shrine. The realization of just how close he had come to failing and bringing shame to his family made him shudder, Victor would never know just how grateful Yuuri was.

Yuuri hated the forest. It was dark, and creepy, and full of unusual sounds that made him jump, at least that’s how he used to feel. True it was still dark, and there were noises that would probably still make him jump, but the forest was also home to the fae. Unique, fascinating creatures that he wanted to learn everything about, and he couldn’t wait to get out there and get started. But first, there was one other thing he wanted to do.

The following day, once he was able to get away from his parents—promising them he wouldn’t be gone long—he sought out Minako and asked her to teach him to dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it! The start of the story that looked at my two chapter intentions, laughed in my face, and ran away from me. XD But I have no regrets, the story is much better off for it and I hope you enjoyed it enough to want to continue and see what happens next.
> 
> To give my brain a bit of a break after working so hard on this I'm going to gradually get the rest of the chapters edited and posted over the next couple weeks leading up to the end of the bang. So if you're excited for more I'm afraid you'll just have to wait! XD
> 
>  
> 
> Comments and (helpful) critiques are always welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before Phichit could respond Yuuri turned away, intending to head back to the path that would take them back to the village when his foot caught on something that gave a metallic rattle. He stumbled forward, barely managing to catch himself from faceplanting into the ground.
> 
> “You okay?” Phichit asked.
> 
> “Yeah I’m fine, but what in the world-“
> 
> He trailed off as he turned and look down to see what he had tripped over. Most of whatever it was was hidden amongst the weeds and fallen leaves, the only part that could be seen was a rusted, metal ring, but Yuuri knew what it was. Even before he knelt to extract it from the vegetation that had grown around it he knew, and yet once it was free he turned it over slowly in his hands and stared at it like he had never seen anything like it before. Phichit sidled up behind him and leaned down to peer over his shoulder.
> 
> “A lantern?” he said, confusion clear in his voice. “How did that get here?”
> 
> Yuuri continued to stare at it a few moments before speaking. “It’s mine…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finished editing this (late) last night and was going to post it then, but didn't. Then had intended to post it much earlier today but then some... things happened and I needed some time to myself.
> 
> BUT! I'm feeling better now and here to present the next chapter! You may notice that there is a definitive chapter count now. It should be accurate, but I haven't properly gone back through the last word document (of 37 pages) for this story and while I have tentative chapter breaks I could always come across a point that work better as a chapter end so the thing could end up split 4-ways rather than 3. Don't think that will happen but I also wasn't expecting this story to be so long when I started it so. XD
> 
> But that is neither here no there. For now enjoy the chapter and I'll see you at the end!
> 
>  
> 
> And of course I need to again promote [the art](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/post/175111451883/my-pieces-for-yurionicebigbang-2018-this-is-my) my wonderful partner did!

“Yuuuriii. It’s gonna start getting dark soon, we should head back.”

“Just a little longer Phichit.”

“Oh come on Yuuri, we’ve been out here all day and I’m hungry. Mama Katsuki said she was making katsudon tonight, you’re really going to miss out on that?”

Yuuri was about to respond, but his stomach chose that exact moment to let out a particularly loud growl, loud enough for his friend to no doubt hear. Not wanting to see his knowing smirk Yuuri focused his gaze elsewhere.

“You know sometimes I think they only reason you’re friends with me is because my mother cooks better than yours.”

Phichit let out a dramatic gasp, clutching his chest for effect. “You wound me Yuuri, I can’t believe you think so little of me.” A pause. “Although it certainly is a perk.

Yuuri threw a pinecone at him, a smile playing on his lips. Phichit and his family had moved to Hasetsu when Yuuri was eighteen and the two had had a bit of a difficult start. Yuuri wasn’t one to let people in, having been ridiculed and looked down upon by his fellow villagers for so long it didn’t exactly make trusting others easy. Phichit turned out to be a force to be reckoned with. The moment he had heard about Yuuri and what he was doing the younger man had been fascinated, and no amount of deterrents on Yuuri’s end was enough to chase him off. Eventually his enthusiasm won out over Yuuri’s stubbornness and Yuuri had given in, telling himself that it wouldn’t last and eventually Phichit would leave. Instead the two became almost inseparable, and they certainly made for an interesting pair.

Phichit was a people person, his first day in the village he had gone around introducing himself, charming the villagers left and right with his bright smile and bubbling personality. Yuuri on the other hand was quiet, shy, and a bit on the awkward side, he couldn’t be more opposite of Phichit if he tried. Why the younger man had latched on to _him_ of all people was a mystery to this day, but if Yuuri was being honest with himself he had to admit he was glad for the company on his excursions into the woods.

Which was where the two currently found themselves. Ever since the night Yuuri had been sent into the forest to leave the offering at the Kazuki shrine and met Victor he had been determined, borderline obsessed with seeing him again. For the las fifteen years he had been scouring the woods between his village and the shrine, hoping that Victor might happen upon him again, or that he would find the gateway between their worlds and continue his search in the fae realm. But no matter how hard he tried or how hard he searched he continued to come up empty-handed. He had no way pf knowing if Victor ever ventured into the human realm again, and while the gateway hadn’t _seemed_ far from the main path he had so far been unsuccessful in locating it. Sometimes, on days when he was feeling particularly discouraged, he would wonder if the whole thing had been nothing more than a very vivid dream. Most of the village seemed to think so, sine he had admitted to falling asleep at the shrine back then, while others believed he was seeking attention, or trying to distract them from the fact he had nearly failed to deliver the offering in the first place. Those accusations hurt the most.

But Yuuri could still remember the feeling of Victor’s hand, warn and gentle, as he led Yuuri through the woods. The way the moonlight reflected off his long, flowing hair as he danced among the Lunar flowers, and how his eyes sparkled like precious jewels when he smiled. No, it had all been real, Yuuri was sure of it, and no matter how long it took he was going to see Victor again.

“Your face is all red.”

Phichit’s voice was suddenly much closer to him. Blinking, he focused back on the present to find his friend’s face only a few inches away from his. With a startled yelp he jumped back, wincing when his back collided painfully with a tree.

“Don’t _do_ that!”

“Sorry. “You just got real quiet all of the sudden, what were you thinking about?”

“Er… Nothing really.”

Now that his attention had been drawn to it he could feel the slight warmth in his cheeks, brought upon by his memories of Victor. The raised eyebrow and knowing smirk Phichit sent his way told Yuuri his friend wasn’t buying it, that he knew exactly what Yuuri had been thinking about. His flush deepened.

“Let’s head back,” Yuuri said, a bit louder than he had intended. “You’re hungry right?”

Before Phichit could respond Yuuri turned away, intending to head back to the path that would take them back to the village when his foot caught on something that gave a metallic rattle. He stumbled forward, barely managing to catch himself from faceplanting into the ground.

“You okay?” Phichit asked.

“Yeah I’m fine, but what in the world-“

He trailed off as he turned and look down to see what he had tripped over. Most of whatever it was was hidden amongst the weeds and fallen leaves, the only part that could be seen was a rusted, metal ring, but Yuuri knew what it was. Even before he knelt to extract it from the vegetation that had grown around it he knew, and yet once it was free he turned it over slowly in his hands and stared at it like he had never seen anything like it before. Phichit sidled up behind him and leaned down to peer over his shoulder.

“A lantern?” he said, confusion clear in his voice. “How did that get here?”

Yuuri continued to stare at it a few moments before speaking. “It’s mine…” Phichit looked at him.

“What?”

“When I was chosen to take the offering, I was given this lantern to light my way.” He looked up. “This is the tree I hid under when it started raining. Where I-“

 _Met Victor_ he didn’t say, thought he knew Phichit knew, having told him the story of what happened that night a dozen or so times over the course of their friendship. Yuuri had forgotten about leaving the lantern behind. It hardly served as proof, if he were to bring it back to the village they would simply say that anyone could have lost it, or that he had been a careless child who lost something he shouldn’t have. But as Yuuri looked back down at the lantern he felt his determination rise. He had left the lantern behind because Victor told him to, because the young fae didn’t need it to see by. Yuuri wouldn’t have left it behind otherwise, and it was enough to reassure him that he hadn’t dreamt the whole thing. Setting the lantern down Yuuri stood and made his way back to the path where he stood, looked both directions as if he were considering which way to go, and then turned and started to walk. In the complete opposite direction of the village.

“Uh… Yuuri? The village is the other way,” Phichit called after him.

Yuuri ignored him and kept walking, trying to remember and match the slower pace he and Victor had walked all those years ago. Finding the place where he had first met Victor gave him a starting point, he just had to figure out where it was they had left the path and entered the woods. They hadn’t walked for very long, and had been going a bit slower because Yuuri’s uncertainties had him dragging his feet. After walking for a few minutes he stopped and looked around, hoping that he would see something that he might have seen back then to indicate he was in the right place.

“Yuuri…?” Phichit asked.

Yuuri could hear the confusion, laced with concern in his friend’s voice, and in the back of his mind knew he should reassure him that he hadn’t completely lost it, but at the moment all he could focus on was looking for something, _anything_ that might look familiar. And then something caught his eye. At the edge of the path there was a tree with a patch of bark missing, Yuuri eyed it a moment before going over to it. He lifted a hand, brushing his fingers against the bare spot, and tilted his head to the side. At this angle the spot sort of looked like a bird and suddenly it was like a light went on in his mind, _he had seen this before_. Yuuri looked past the tree, further into the woods and he could feel excitement bubbling in his chest.

“Yuuri, we really should- hey!”

Before Phichit could finish what he was saying Yuuri took off running, he knew which way to go now, it was a straight shot. He could hear Phichit crashing through the brush behind him and knew he should stop, knew he should explain, but he couldn’t. For the first time in fifteen years he was so close, he was finally going to see Victor again. He would make it up to Phichit later.

 _”Not much further,”_ he thought. _It wasn’t very far from the path, it should be right-“_

Yuuri’s breath caught in his throat when he saw it, the wall of brush that Victor had brought him to so many years ago. He slowed his pace until he was standing before it, his eyes wide in wonder. There was no mistaking it, it was the entrance into the fae realm. He had finally found it.

Phichit came up beside him, panting and gasping he leaned forward on his knees and he tried to catch his breath. Once he was able to breath normally he straightened and fixed his friend with the most incredulous look he could muster.

“What the heck Yuuri?” he demanded.

Yuuri looked over at him and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Ah… Sorry Phichit it’s just, well, this is it.” He looked back to the wall and gestured to it. Phichit followed his motion.

“This is… what?”

“What I’ve been searching for. The entrance to the fae realm.”

Phichit stared at the wall of brush for a moment, then looked at Yuuri, then looked back at it. He did this a few times, each time looking at Yuuri a little longer as if he were waiting for him to say something. Finally, when he didn’t Phichit spoke.

“Yuuri… This… is a giant bush.”

He spoke carefully, as if afraid his words might set his friend off. Yuuri looked at him and saw the odd look Phichit was giving him—a look that said he was concerned for his friend’s sanity. Yuuri supposed he really couldn’t blame him, if he were in Phichit’s position he would probably be thinking the same thing, but he knew he wasn’t crazy. He just had to prove it to his friend.

“I know what it looked like Phichit, but I’m telling you this is it. This is where Victor brought me when I was eight.”

Phichit kept his face neutrally blank, as he so often did when talk of Victor came up. When they had first met and Phichit eventually got Yuuri to open up he had been excited by the idea of fae and the magical realm in which they resided, and he had jumped at the chance to help Yuuri look for it. But as time went on and they found nothing, not even the smallest of clues that could point them in the right direction, his enthusiasm began to wane, and the fact that Yuuri had already been searching for so long even before they met certainly didn’t help. To Phichit’s credit he at least _tried_ not to let his doubt show, but Yuuri caught it from time to time when Phichit thought he wasn’t looking. Yuuri tried not to let it get to him, he was honestly grateful to have someone willing to indulge him, but at the same time this was the exact reason why he had initially tried to push Phichit away. To have someone try so hard to get to know him and then turn away once they learned his story… It hadn’t been something he had wanted to deal with. Especially since the rest of his village had already turned away from him.

“Okay so… How does it work then? Do we have to do anything?”

When Victor had brought him here the brush hadn’t looked solid as it did now. It had shimmered in the little bit of moonlight that got through the trees, and rippled as if a pool of water had been stood on its side. The brush before them did none of those things, instead looking very much like what it was. With a feeling of trepidation Yuuri slowly approached, reaching a hand towards it as he did so. Instead of passing right through like it should his fingers brushed against solid leaves, his heart sank.

“It’s not open…” he said.

“Not open,” Phichit repeated, slightly deadpan. “So… How do we open it?”

Yuuri sighed and dropped his hand to his side. “We don’t. It only opens under certain circumstances but Victor wouldn’t tell me what they were.”

“Of course he wouldn’t.”

And there it was, the tone that told him Phichit had finally had enough. He had indulged Yuuri long enough and was now starting to understand why the rest of the village had turned on him. Yuuri had always known it was coming, he had no way of proving anything he said after all, and after having gone so many years without even the slightest hint of a lead… Even now that he had found the entrance he still didn’t have proof; the entrance was closed and he had no idea when it might open again. And while he was sure losing Phichit as a search companion would hurt later right now that was dwarfed by his excitement at having finally found what he had been searching for for so long.

“We should head back…” Phichit said when Yuuri remained silent. “It’s starting to get dark.”

Yuuri looked over at him, and though Phichit was trying not to show it Yuuri could see the uncertainty in his friend’s eyes. No doubt thinking Yuuri had finally lost it. He looked back to the brush, silently willing it for it to become what he knew it to be so that Phichit wouldn’t think he had wasted his time. But it remained as it was and after a few moments more Yuuri sighed and nodded.

“Yeah… Let’s head back.”

The relief was evident on Phichit’s face when Yuuri turned towards him—he must have thought Yuuri was going to argue¬¬—and easily fell into step beside him when he began to make his way back towards the path that would take them home. He resisted the urge to look back over his shoulder, this wasn’t the end. Now that he knew where the entrance was he would be back, and would keep coming back until he figured out when and how it opened. And like his search, he didn’t care how long it took.

 

Over the next couple of weeks he was true to his word, returning to the entrance every day and trying to puzzle it out. Since it had been night when he and Victor met that was when Yuuri went, although he didn’t know if that actually mattered. He found a spot not far off that hid him well enough but still allowed him to keep the entrance in sight, but so far he hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary.

Unsurprisingly, Phichit didn’t accompany him into the forest. In fact, the two had barely spoken to one another since they had discovered the entrance. Yuuri didn’t begrudge Phichit in the slightest for having finally had enough, though he did wish the younger man had held out a little longer. The nights were very long and very boring, at least with Phichit there he would have had someone to talk to. By the middle of the third week of this he was exhausted. He tried to ignore the concerned looks his family gave him when he dragged himself out of bed later and later each day, and he was glad each time when they didn’t comment on it. Yuuri knew they weren’t entirely thrilled with his obsession with the fae, but despite that his parents had never discouraged him from seeking out the entrance he claimed to exist or the fae he claimed to have met, a gesture for which he was grateful of. Although it did mean the other villagers occasionally gave his parents a hard time, wanting to know why they allowed him to continue with his “delusions” as they put it. Yuuri always felt particularly guilty when that happened. To make up for it he always made sure to do his part around the house, sometimes more, before running off into the woods, so at least he couldn’t be accused of being lazy and neglectful on top of crazy.

He knew his family was worried about him, the way he was going about all this certainly couldn’t be healthy, but he didn’t know what else to do. There was no one to help him—Phichit probably would if he really begged, but Yuuri had inconvenienced him enough—and without actually being at the entrance there was no way for him to know when it opened, so this was how it had to be.

With a heavy sigh he sat up. After dinner he had excused himself to his room to lay down, wanting to rest for a little bit before heading off to the woods. The sun outside had long since set and the rays from the moon were starting to shine in through his window, illuminating part of his room in a soft glow. It was a full moon tonight, which had become his favorite way of seeing the moon after that night in the field of Lunar flowers. The light of the full moon was different from any other moonlight, turning things that during the day were dull and ordinary into something ethereal and magical.

Sliding off his bed Yuuri knelt beside it and reached under, dragging out a small bow from where it was tucked safely out of view. He lifted it onto his lap and stared at it a moment before removing the lid, his eyes settling on the single item inside—the Lunar flower that Victor had gifted him all those years ago. It had never wilted—Yuuri could only assume because it was not a flower of this world—and thought its petals were closed it was still as beautiful as it had been the day it was given to him. Once Yuuri had realized that it didn’t seem like it was doing to die he had hidden it away, not wanting others to ruin something so precious—even if it could have been the proof he needed to convince everyone of his claims. It had been a gift, and one he intended to keep as long as he could.

The unusual thing about it though was that it hadn’t bloomed again after that night, or at least any time Yuuri looked at it it hadn’t. The petals had folded in to form a bud that filled the palm of Yuuri’s hand. He wished he could see it in bloom again, remembering the way the petals had shone in the light of the moon, even if it was only for a few moments.

With a sigh he got to his feet and wandered over to his window, cradling the flower against his chest. The streets outside were deserted, everyone having long since retired to their homes for the evening, this was when Yuuri preferred to venture out into the woods. Though he had long since learned to ignore the looks and whispers he got for his actions it was still nice to not have to worry about them. Maybe he would camp out tonight. It was a nice night and it had been a while since he had done so. Decision made he was about to turn away from his window when he felt something brushing against his hand and looked down, his breath caught in his throat. The flower was opening! Yuuri watched as the petals slowly unfurled, taking the starburst shape of the flower from his memory that he had so longed to see again. Once fully opened the blossom began to emit a soft glow, just as it had when he had first seen it years ago.

Yuuri couldn’t believe it. He had long since resigned himself to the fact that the only way he would see a Lunar flower in bloom again was to find the fae realm and the field from which this one had come. Why was it blooming now? What was different about this moment that hadn’t happened in the last fifteen years?

And then suddenly it hit him. Words that he had somehow forgotten, the secret behind when the Lunar flowers bloomed.

_They only bloom on the night of the full moon._

Suddenly he was filled with a strong sense of hope. The full moon, it _had_ to be the key. The Lunar flowers only bloomed during a full moon, and the moon had been full the night Victor had taken him to the fae realm. Could it really be so simple? He had to know.

Dashing back over to his bed he tucked the flower back into its box and slid it back into its hiding place. Forgetting his plans of camping out he hurriedly threw on his cloak, grabbed up his lantern, and dashed out of his room. The rest of his family was still awake¬¬¬¬—as he knew they would be—and looked up in alarm when he came crashing into the main room. Questions of concern were directed at him but he waved them off, he would apologize to them later for his rudeness, before sprinting out the door.

More than ever he was glad there was no one out and about as he hurtled through the village towards the woods, the villagers already thought him odd, the sight of him now would likely lead them to believe he was downright crazy. Of course, many probably already thought that. He quickly pushed that thought from his mind, it wasn’t important. Right now all that mattered was getting to the entrance of the fae realm and seeing if he was right.

He was well into the woods, following the path from memory alone before he realized he hadn’t stopped to light his lantern and allowed himself to stop for a moment to do so. Over the years he had learned the forest well, but not so well he was willing to try and navigate it without a light source. If anything, he would need it to locate the tree with the marking like a bird. After catching his breath he lit his lantern and continued forward at a much more calm, but brisk pace, keeping his eyes peeled for the tree. When he finally spotted it he felt his excitement spike and had to force himself not to break into a run again. Logically he knew he shouldn’t get his hopes up too much, it was entirely likely that when he reached the wall of brush that was the entrance to the fae realm it would be unchanged from the day he and Phichit had found it, but he wanted to be optimistic. Victor had said there was a certain thing that allowed the entrance to open, and when Victor had shown it to him it had been on the night of a full moon. If this wasn’t the key then Yuuri had no idea what could be.

As he drew closer to where he knew the entrance to be his excitement began to dissolve into nerves, what if he _was_ wrong? What if when he reached the entrance it remained as closed as it had been since he rediscovered it? Or worse, what if it was open but he couldn’t pass through? Yuuri had never considered that option before but based on what was known about the fae he realized it was a strong possibility. As a child it made sense he would easily be able to pass into the fae realm because children posed no threat to its inhabitants. An adult on the other hand was a completely different story. Adults could taint the fae, twist them into dark and gruesome beings that only vaguely resembled what they once were. Yuuri slowed his pace a little, he certainly didn’t want to be the cause of that.

And then of course what happened if he _did_ make it back into the fae realm? Then what? He had no idea how big the other realm was, at least a big as his own world he imagined, if not bigger. How would he even find Victor? More importantly, how would he find Victor before something else found _him_? He highly doubted his presence would be welcome, and doubted even further that anything that found him would be willing to listen to him.

He was almost to the spot where the entrance stood when an even worse thought occurred to him. What if he made it into the fae realm, made it through without anything finding him and actually found Victor only for the other to not want to see him? Sure they had gotten along as children—if Yuuri could even call Victor a child back then, he had no idea how the fae aged and thereby had no idea how old Victor actually was—and had seemed sad at the idea of their parting, but that didn’t necessarily mean he would want to see Yuuri again. Victor might not even remember Yuuri, or the short time they spent together. Yuuri knew he wasn’t particularly memorable so he wouldn’t be surprised, but it would still hurt. Victor not wanting to see him, or not even remembering him would mean that he had wasted the last fifteen years of his life being whispered about as the crazy, attention seeker for nothing.

These thoughts continued to swirl around in his head as he drew closer and closer to his destination and suddenly he wasn’t sure if he wanted to entrance to be open or not. How had he never thought about any of this before? He had spent so much time searching and thinking about what it would be like to see Victor again that he had never stopped to consider all the negative possibilities, now they were all he could think about. Maybe he should turn back, forget about all this and live out the rest of his life normally. But as Yuuri stepped around a tree and automatically focused his gaze ahead of him to what he knew was there all the thoughts running rampant through his mind were suddenly silenced

The entrance to the fae realm was open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it kids, never let anyone tell you that perseverance doesn't pay off.
> 
> What will happen? Will Victor be happy to see Yuuri? Will he even remember him? Did Yuuri waste all this time for nothing? You'll just have to wait to find out! In the meantime leave a comment and tell me what YOU think will happen when Yuuri steps through the portal.
> 
>  
> 
> Going forward I'll be updating a bit more frequently since the bang ends next Saturday (somehow I thought there was another week in there) and the story has to be completely uploaded by then. Currently the plan is to post a chapter every other day so if all goes well chapter 4 will be up some time Sunday (wish me luck!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How did you come to be in our realm?” she asked. “This is not the sort of place for one such as yourself to be.”
> 
> The younger of the trio gave her an odd look. “Obviously he came through the gateway,” he said in a tone that sounded like he thought she was stupid. “And why are you talking like that? You sound like one of those prissy court ladies.”
> 
> One of the woman’s eyes twitched slightly. “I’m _trying_ to be proper and polite Yura, something _you_ don’t know anything about.”
> 
> The younger boy scoffed and rolled his eyes. “He’s a human, what’s there to be proper about?”
> 
> “Just because he’s human doesn’t mean we have to act like barbarians.”
> 
> “Isn’t that what you’re good at though?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so... I'm a day late posting this, whoops. But I can explain! I had the chapter edited and ready to go, but I was with friend's yesterday and forgot to take my laptop. >.> By the time I got home it was late so decided to wait until today to post. And so here we are! Enjoy!
> 
> Also, a shout out to [Lydia_Theda](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/post/175111451883/my-pieces-for-yurionicebigbang-2018-this-is-my) who pointed me in the right direction in getting my end note issues fixed! If you see this thanks again!
> 
> And of course let's not forgot[ the art!](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/post/175111451883/my-pieces-for-yurionicebigbang-2018-this-is-my)

It was open.

It was really open.

Yuuri couldn’t believe it, was hesitant to believe it. Everyday since he and Phichit had found the entrance he had come back to this spot in the hopes of it being open, and now it finally was. All the fears and negative thoughts that had been plaguing his mind for the last several minutes were completely forgotten, replaced by pure elation. He walked forward, eyes never leaving the shimmering, rippling wall that was the entrance to the fae realm, afraid that if he looked away for even a moment it would close, barring his entrance into the world just beyond. He didn’t step through right away, instead hesitating as his fears from before tried to creep back up on him, but he quickly squashed them down before they could take root. For once he was _not_ going to let his thoughts keep him from doing something.

Setting his lantern down he reached a hand out, hesitating for just a moment as a small voice in the back of his mind said his hand wouldn’t pass through, and let out a small breath of relief when it did. He moved his hand back and forth slowly, watching as the magic of the entrance moved around his hand—much like water—and aside from a light tingling that he suddenly remembered feeling before the wall felt like nothing. Lowering his hand he took a slow, steadying breath; this was it, no turning back now. With his eyes focused on the entrance he stepped through; sound became muffled, and everything around him became wavy and distorted. Had he not remembered this from the last time, when he and Victor had passed through back into the human world, it would have been startling. Instead it actually helped to calm the little bit of nerves still lingering in his mind, this was just further proof that he hadn’t imagined everything. One step put you in the space between the two worlds, and another step… 

He was in the fae realm. His joy and elation swelled to such an intensity it threatened to burst. The field of Lunar flowers stretched out before him, the blossoms in full bloom and illuminating the area with their soft glow. They swayed gently in the breeze as he stood there, almost as if they were waving and welcoming him back. Yuuri could hardly believe it, for fifteen years he had searched for the entrance to the fae realm, wondering if he would ever find it, and now here he was. He had half a mind to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t having a very vivid hallucination. Now all he had to do was find Victor before the gate closed and he was trapped here until the next full moon.

Yuuri lifted his gaze towards the sky, the moon wasn’t quite at its highest point yet, so he estimated he had about six or seven hours before he had to worry about getting back. He just hoped that was enough time. Lowering his gaze from the sky he focused his attention on the area around him, walking forward in the field as he looked around. He quickly discovered that aside from the Lunar flowers there wasn’t much to see. The field was surrounded by forest, not unlike the one he had just left, but other than that there was nothing. Yuuri supposed that made sense, the forest was where the fae called home and weren’t likely to have cities and towns like he was used to. Though it didn’t give him much to go by. Looking closer, he noticed a gap in the trees to his left, that seemed as good a place to start as any. With some luck it would be a path that would take him… somewhere. Altering he course slightly he made his way towards the gap.

As he walked he reached a hand out, allowing the tips of his fingers to brush against the silky petals of the flowers. He was mindful not to harm them, but the slight jostle his hand caused was still enough for some of them to release their glittering pollen. Yuuri paused to watch as it swirled and danced in the breeze, reminding him of the dance he and Victor had shared what felt like a lifetime ago. The memory brought a smile to his lips, but also a deep feeling of longing, he really hoped he would be able to find Victor and that he would be happy to see him.

When the pollen was mostly gone he began walking again, reaching the edge of the flower field soon enough. The gap in the trees he had seen was indeed a path that led further into the woods, and he felt a touch of relief upon seeing it. While he had long since lost the fear of getting lost in the forest surrounding his village without use of the path, these woods were unfamiliar to him, and he knew all too well just how easy it was to lose one’s way without something to act as a guide. A path would do just that. He had almost reached the trees when a dozen or so roots suddenly shot out of the ground, blocking his path, Yuuri yelped in surprise and jumped back. Eyes wide with shock he stared at the roots, blinking a few times as he tried to process what had just happened when more roots emerged from the ground, this time around him. Yuuri had no time to react before the roots wrapped themselves tightly around his legs, thoroughly holding him in place. Immediately he reached down and tried to pull the roots away as panic quickly set in, but his attempts at freeing himself only seemed to make the roots cling more tightly. Which only made his panic rise.

“You’re going to lose circulation if you keep struggling like that.”

Yuuri froze, his head snapping up towards the new voice. Three figures stood on the other side of the roots that had risen up to block his path, but as he watched the roots parted enough to allow them to pass through before settling back into place. In the middle of the group was a woman with the brightest red hair Yuuri had ever seen. She was dressed in a simple one shoulder dressed of browns and greens, the uneven layers of his skirt swishing lightly around her legs as she moved. To her left was a man with short, dark hair that was styled forward to form a point. His clothes were blue and white, the main part being a suit so form fitting it reminded Yuuri of the tights Minako wore when she danced. A ruffled half-skirt hung off his right hip while a sheer material hung down around his shoulders, a single blue gem seeming to hold it in place. To the woman’s right was a younger looking boy, golden hair framing his face elegantly, though the look was broken slightly by the fierce green eyes he had focused on Yuuri. Of the three his attire stood out the most; primarily white and accented with small silver stones that dotted his torso. Fluffy white feathers at his shoulders held a short cape in place, and more feathers adorned his wrists and ankles making him look much like a swan, albeit a very angry one. The three of them were regarding Yuuri with varying levels of curiosity and suspicion, though the younger of the three looked ready to attack. He looked Yuuri up and down before wrinkling his nose in displeasure.

“Doesn’t look like much does he?”

“Yuri, don’t be rude,” the woman said.

Yuuri blinked, and very nearly said something, but caught himself at the last minute. The woman refocused her attention on him.

“How did you come to be in our realm?” she asked. “This is not the sort of place for one such as yourself to be.”

The younger of the trio gave her an odd look. “Obviously he came through the gateway,” he said in a tone that sounded like he thought she was stupid. “And why are you talking like that? You sound like one of those prissy court ladies.”

One of the woman’s eyes twitched slightly. “I’m _trying_ to be proper and polite Yura, something _you_ don’t know anything about.”

The younger boy scoffed and rolled his eyes. “He’s a human, what’s there to be proper about?”

“Just because he’s human doesn’t mean we have to act like barbarians.”

“Isn’t that what you’re good at though?”

There was silence between the three, the older man—who had yet to say anything—was eyeing his companions carefully, a look of trepidation in his eyes. The next moment the younger boy was squirming and yelling as the woman suddenly grabbed him and lifted him into the air above her head, demonstrating a strength Yuuri would not have expected.

“Put me down you old hag!” the boy screeched as he thrashed about. The woman was smiling but there was a dangerous look in her eyes that made Yuuri shiver. She was clearly not someone to mess with.

“You wanted me to act like a barbarian didn’t you?” she asked in a voice that was dripping with false sweetness.

The boy continued to struggle, shouting a string of curses and insults that would have made even the crudest man in Yuuri’s village blush in embarrassment. The older of the three sighed and shook his head, drawing Yuuri’s attention to him. He focused his own attention on Yuuri and offered an apologetic smile.

“Just ignore them, they’ll eventually tire themselves out. My friend is right though, this really isn’t a place where you should be.”

“Um…” Yuuri glanced at the other two then looked back at the older man. “I… I know. I’m sorry, and I swear I don’t mean any harm but I… I’m looking for someone.”

The older man raised an eyebrow and regarded him curiously. “Really? And who are you looking for?”

“He’s a- A forest nymph.” Yuuri nearly said fae but wasn’t sure whether or not that would be rude. “His name is Victor.”

The man’s face suddenly became very serious and the other two stopped their bickering to focus their attentions on Yuuri. Yuuri felt his stomach twist into tight knots, had he said something wrong?

“I-I-“

“Why are you looking for our prince?” the man asked, his voice hard. Yuuri’s eyes widened.

“P-Prince? No that… He’s… Victor’s not a-“

“What’s going on here?”

The three of them stood at attention—at some point the woman had set the younger boy down—and turned towards the wall of roots as they twisted and sunk back into the ground. A man was approaching them, and as he crossed the spot where the roots had been the three fae fell to one knee and bowed their heads, one look at the man and Yuuri was almost inclined to do the same had he not been held in place. He was a little taller than Yuuri and dressed much finer than the other three in a fitted vest that looked like it was made of leaver overtop a billowy white shirt, and dark trousers. From his shoulders trailed a long cape made of moss and adorned with colorful flowers, and what could only be described as a crown made of twigs and decorated with tiny white flowers sat atop hair that was like moonlight. Yuuri’s eyes went wide.

“We caught this human your highness,” the older male fae said.

“Yes I can see that Georgi,” the fae prince said. “But what is he doing here?”

The three fae exchanged looks.

“He… He said he’s looking for… For you your highness.”

The fae prince quirked an eyebrow and turned a pair of ocean blue eyes towards Yuuri. Eyes that Yuuri would know anywhere.

“Victor…”

His hair was shorter, with a fringe of bangs hanging over his left eye, but it was undeniably Victor. Yuuri opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly found he didn’t know what to say. What if Victor _didn’t_ remember him? What would they do to him if that happened? He was trespassing in their realm, a place where humans shouldn’t be due to the danger they could pose the fae. Suddenly he thought back to the stories of trickery and manipulation surrounding the fae that had scared him as a child, stories that Victor had frowned upon and that Yuuri hadn’t thought about since the two had met. They didn’t seem hostile towards him, but the fae were masters of deception—according to the stories—so there was really no way to tell.

Victor’s eyes widened slightly upon hearing his name then narrowed in contemplation as he tilted his head to the side. He stared at Yuuri for a long time before approaching him.

“Y-your highness!” Georgi said in alarm, but Victor ignored him. He stopped and stood before Yuuri, studying him with another tilt of his head. There were several moments of silence again and then there was a spark of recognition in his eyes. He brought his hands up towards Yuuri’s face, taking hold of his glasses and slowly removing them. Yuuri blinked as his vision blurred, though Victor came back into focus when he leaned in, studying Yuuri’s face closely. There was another pause, and then Victor let out a soft gasp.

“Yuuri?”

Yuuri’s stomach gave an excited flip, Victor remembered him! But would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Not trusting himself to speak at the moment he gave a small nod of confirmation. Victor continued to stare at Yuuri for a beat, then two, and then his face broke out in the brightest smile Yuuri had ever seen.

“Yuuri!” he cried before throwing his arms around him and pulling him into a crushing hug. Had he not been held in place by the roots around his legs Yuuri was sure they would both be on the ground. Yuuri was too stunned to move, and when he didn’t return Victor’s hug the older man leaned back to look at him, a confused look on his face.

“Yuuri? Is something wrong?”

“Ah.” Yuuri blinked. “N-No, um…”

“Are you not happy to see me?” Victor pouted, Yuuri’s eyes widened.

“I-I am! I’m very happy! Ever since I woke up that day at the shrine and you were gone I’ve wanted to see you again!”

Victor’s smile somehow widened and then he was hugging Yuuri again, after a moment Yuuri returned the hug, a smile of his own creeping onto his face. They stood like that for several moment before Victor pulled away again, smile bright and eyes warm as he looked at Yuuri, though when his gaze dropped lower to the roots around his legs the smile fell a little.

“Ah, we need to do something about that,” he said before waving a hand towards the roots. The roots gave a shudder, untangling themselves from Yuuri’s legs and sinking back into the ground. Yuuri’s legs tingled a bit, he hadn’t realized they had started to go numb. Victor lifted his gaze again, looking Yuuri up and down.

“Look how much you’ve grown! How old are you now?”

“Ah, I’m twenty-three.”

“Twenty-three, so long!” He turned towards the other three fae, who were still knelt on the ground and watching the two with varying looks of bafflement. “What are you still doing down there? Get up, get up!” The three exchanged looks before standing. Starting from the older male fae on the right Victor gestured to each of them. “Yuuri, this is Georgi, Mila, and Yuri- oh. How funny, you both share a name!”

The younger fae, Yuri, rolled his eyes. “Hilarious…”

“Everyone, this us Yuuri. We met over in his realm a long time ago.”

Mila suddenly looked excited. “Ooh, is this the cute little boy you’ve talked so much about?”

“That’s right! Although he’s not so little anymore.”

“Still cute though,” Mila said with a wink, Yuuri flushed.

“Who care what he looks like?” Yuri snapped. “Are we just going to ignore the fact that a _human_ is in our realm?”

“He does have a point your highness,” Georgi said. “I understand he’s your friend, but it’s not a good idea for him to be here. If anyone else were to find him...”

“Oh I’m sure it will be fine,” Victor said, waving a dismissive hand. “The gateway will only be open for a few more hours, and it’s just Yuuri, what could possibly happen?”

Georgi and Mila glanced at each other while Yuri looked at him in disbelief. He scoffed and started to turn away, but then paused and looked past Victor, raising an eyebrow.

“You want to try that again?” he asked and pointed, Victor blinked and turned.

“Ah. Well then…”

Yuuri turned as well, his gaze falling on a familiar figure hurrying towards them across the Lunar flower field. His eyes went wide.

“Yuuri!” Phichit called when he was closer.

“Phichit… What-“

“You did it! You actually did it! And you didn’t tell me you jerk!”

“Uh… I… Sorry?”

Phichit tried to look upset but was unable to keep his smile at bay and quickly gave up. He looked between the four fae, who clearly weren’t sure what to make of him, before his gaze settled on Victor. He looked the fae prince over, eyes lingering on his hair a second or two before looking at Yuuri.

“So this is him right? The one you’ve been so obsessed with?”

“Phichit!” Yuuri squeaked as his face went bright red.

“Are you a friend of Yuuri’s?” Victor asked, Phichit looked at him again.

“Yep! And you’re Victor, right? I guess Yuuri didn’t dream you up after all. Oh man Yuuri, you can finally prove to everyone that you didn’t make it up! Just bring him back to the village and then-“

“You are not taking his highness anywhere,” Georgi suddenly spoke up, his voice stern. Phichit looked at him.

“Highness?” He looked at Victor, eyes flicking to the crown atop his head before looking to Yuuri for clarification. Yuuri sighed.

“Victor is… a prince apparently.”

Phichit’s eyes went wide. “Seriously? Yuuri that’s even more amazing! Not only are you friends with a fae, but you’re friends with a fae _prince_! Everyone is going to flip!”

“Are you deaf or something?” Yuri spat. “He isn’t some prize to be paraded around, especially in front of a bunch of humans!”

“Yuri…” Victor sighed.

“Who’s the angry puff ball?”

Mila covered her mouth with a hand to stifle a laugh while Yuri visibly bristled

“Puff ball?! Why you-“ Yuri thrust his hand forward and next moment Phichit was knocked off his feet when a powerful burst of wind struck him. He flew back several feet, landing on the ground with a thud and an audible ‘oof.’

“Phichit!” Yuuri cried and hurried over to his friend, Victor rounded on Yuri.

“Yuri!”

“What? He started it!”

Victor sighed and turned back towards Yuuri and Phichit, walking over as Phichit sat up with a soft groan.

“Are you okay Phichit?” Yuuri asked, worry clear in his voice.

“Yeah… What was that?”

“I apologize, Yuri is a rather hot headed little sylph and doesn’t often think before acting.”

“To be fair he was provoked,” Yuuri said, giving his friend a look.

“I didn’t provoke him _that_ much.”

Yuuri rolled his eyes. “Look Phichit, I appreciate what you were saying before, but finding the fae realm again had nothing to do with proving to everyone that I’ve been telling the truth.”

Phichit tilted his head slightly. “It didn’t? Then why…”

He trailed off, glancing over at Victor before looking back at his friend, whose cheeks were a light pink. Phichit grinned.

“Oooh, so that’s it huh?” he asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows, Yuuri’s flush darkened.

“No not like that!” he said, waving his hands in front of him frantically. “I just… I wanted…” He sighed. “Nevermind… Victor, I’m really sorry… I never meant to cause so many problems. We… We should go…”

Phichit’s smile faded. “Yuuri…”

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for Yuuri,” Victor said. “There was no harm done.”

“Mm… We still should go. Georgi and Yuri are right, humans shouldn’t be here.”

Victor gave a thoughtful hum, glancing to his companions. He brought a finger to his lips and seemed to consider something. After a minute or two he looked to Yuuri and Phichit again.

“Well then at least allow me to escort you back.”

Yuuri looked at him in surprise. “What? No you… You don’t have to do that.”

“Your highness I really must advise against this,” Georgi said, Victor ignored him again.

“I know I don’t have to, but I want to. It will be just like the night we met.”

Yuuri flushed yet again, he opened his mouth to say something but Phichit beat him to it.

“He probably knows the woods much better than we do, it might not be a bad idea.”

Victor nodded at him then looked at Yuuri again. “What do you say Yuuri?”

Yuuri bit his lip slightly and looked down, he knew the woods around the village like the back of his hand, Phichit knew that too, so Yuuri knew his friend wasn’t concerned about them getting lost. He was trying to buy some time for him to spend with Victor, a gesture he greatly appreciated, but could he really take up Victor’s time like that? If he was being honest with himself he _wanted_ Victor to walk back with them, but he already caused problems just by finding his way into the fae realm, and really didn’t want to trouble them further. Although… Victor did seem more than willing, almost eager, to escort them back, and it was likely to be some time before Yuuri saw Victor again. If he ever saw him again. Under the same pretense he had allowed himself to be selfish as a child and take up some of Victor’s time, maybe he could do it just once more? Reaching his decision he nodded, looked over at Victor, and smiled.

“I’d like that,” he said.

Victor smiled brightly. “Great! Mila?”

Mila made her way over as Victor reached up, unclipping his cape and swinging it around to drape over Mila’s arms that automatically came up to receive it. Once she had it his hands went up to the crown atop his head, lifting it away and holding it out for her to take. Mila hesitated for half a second before doing so.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked. “If Yakov’s finds out-“

“He’ll just have one more thing to yell at me for, you know he loves when I give him reasons to do that.”

Mila let out a small snort. “You’re terrible. Just be careful all right?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be gone long.” He looked to the other two and gave a small wave. “Keep him out of trouble Georgi!”

Georgi looked concerned but didn’t say anything while Yuri just glared at him. After a moment the younger fae turned and stomped off, Georgi followed shortly after. Victor turned back to Yuuri and Phichit, the later having gotten off the ground.

“Shall we?”

The other two nodded then Phichit turned and began strolling back towards the gateway first, Yuuri and Victor exchanged glances and small smiles before following after him. Phichit remained several paces ahead of them, neither seeming in a hurry to catch up. As he had done before Yuuri brushed his fingers against the flowers, once again releasing their glittering pollen into the air.

“I still have the flower you gave me.”

Victor looked over at him. “Really?”

Yuuri nodded. “It’s the only thing I had as proof that I actually met you and didn’t dream the whole thing. It also helped me figure out when the gateway opened.”

“Have you really been trying to get into our realm all this time?”

“Ah, not exactly. Most of it was spent just finding it again, I only succeeded a couple weeks ago.”

“Hm… I wish I had known… It never occurred to me that you would search for me, so I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t do the same…”

“Oh…” Yuuri looked down and gave a shrug after a moment. “It’s okay I mean, I didn’t really expect you to.”

“I thought about you though,” Victor said quickly. “A lot. I often wondered how you were, what you were doing, if you still lived around here. And I always wished we had had more time to spend together.”

Yuuri flushed. “I wished that too…” he said quietly.

They were walking through the forest towards his and Phichit’s village, having passed back into the human realm some time ago. Phichit was still well ahead of them, the only indication of where he was being Yuuri’s lantern that he had scooped up upon returning to the human realm. Yuuri knew he was keeping ahead of them intentionally so they would have the time to talk and was once again grateful to have the younger man as a friend, he would have to remember to do something for him as thanks.

“We’re almost there,” Victor said, and Yuuri swore he heard a touch of sadness in his voice.

Yuuri looked at him then looked forward again, though he couldn’t see the village he knew Victor was right and his heart fell. It felt like they hadn’t been walking for very long and yet soon they would have to part ways once again. He still had no idea if they were every going to see each other again and was too afraid to ask after all the trouble he had caused; would Victor even want to see him again? He admitted to not seeking Yuuri out, which Yuuri had to admit hurt a little, but he also said he had thought of Yuuri during the time they were apart, so that had to mean something, right?

He was still debating on what to do by time they reached the edge of the village, Phichit had already called back a goodnight and disappeared towards his home. Victor and Yuuri stood silently, Victor looking towards Yuuri’s village and Yuuri staring at the ground, the voice in his head screaming at him to say something, _anything_. But every time he opened his mouth to try nothing would come out, it was as if his voice had forgotten how to work.

“It was good to see you again,” Victor said when the silence between them had gone on too long to ignore. Yuuri looked up, Victor was still looking towards the village, a far away look on his face.

“I… Y-yeah… You too.”

Victor looked at him and gave him a smile that was so soft and so sweet that Yuuri felt his heart simultaneously warm and break. He tried a final time to say what was on his mind, to ask if they would be able to see each other again, but before he could Victor stepped forward, closing the remaining distance between them to envelop him in a tight embrace. Yuuri stiffened slightly in surprise but quickly relaxed, bringing his own arms up to wrap around Victor in return. They stood like that for several minutes, neither seeming in any hurry to pull away, but eventually Victor did and Yuuri had to force himself not to cling on. When Yuuri looked up Victor was still smiling at him, and he couldn’t help but give him a small smile in return.

“Take care of yourself Yuuri,” Victor said and Yuuri had to fight back the tears he felt pricking at his eyes. That was a final goodbye if he had ever heard one. And it made sense, as much as he hated to admit it. They were from different worlds, with different responsibilities, Victor especially being a prince and all. A prince! Victor had never given any indication of such a thing when they first met and suddenly Yuuri wished he had asked more about it, had asked more about him in general. There was so much he wanted to know but there hadn’t been enough time to ask any of it, and now it was too late. That realization sat heavy in his chest, making it impossible for him to speak so he simply nodded. Victor continued to look at him a few moments longer before taking a step back, then another, and then without another word he turned and began walking away. Yuuri wanted to call after him, ask him to wait, to stay, to ask all the things he wanted to ask, but instead he kept silent and just continued to watch Victor’s retreating back. He had no right to ask those things of Victor, the fae were meant to be revered, to be spoken of with devotion and praised for all the good they did. It would not be right for Yuuri to ask one of them to step away from that, even for a little while, for the sake of indulging him and his curiosity. So instead he let Victor go, standing where the other man had left him long after he had faded away into the darkness of the forest. Eventually Yuuri tore his gaze away from the spot where Victor had disappeared and turned towards his village. He brought a hand up to wipe away the tears that had begun to form and gave a small sniffle before stepping forward and slowly making his way towards home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the rest of the Russian's have been introduced! Leave it to Yurio and Mila to cause a ruckus. XD
> 
> Out two favorite boys were happily reunited! Only to be torn apart once again. (I'm terrible I know >.>) These two seriously need to work on their communication.
> 
> We're a little over halfway through this story, but there's still plenty more to happen! Going to be working on getting chapter 5 edited today so that it will (hopefully) be ready for posting tomorrow. Wish me luck!
> 
> And as always comments and constructive critique's are always appreciated! (I keep forgetting to add this to the end of chapters. >.<)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yuuri?” his sister called. “Are you awake in there?”
> 
> Yuuri grumbled something that even to him didn’t sound like much of a response but otherwise didn’t acknowledge his sister’s presence outside his door. After a moment the knock came again, louder this time.
> 
> “Come on little brother, if you’re awake then come out. Breakfast is ready, and you have a visitor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so... I guess I owe a bit of an explanation as to why I took so long in updating.
> 
> Back when I posted chapter 4 I had misread things for the bang and thought everything had to be posted by July 7, but then upon reading an e-mail I saw that the absolute last day things needed to be posted by was August 18. When I saw this I talked to my partner and I decided to wait to post the last few chapters because there were still two pieces she was working on and I wanted to be able to attach them to the chapters they corresponded with.
> 
> Now technically I could have posted this chapter ages ago, and had intended to do so, but then life decided to explode. I lost one of my jobs (a job I really liked) so had to deal with a bit of depression from that. Started searching for another job but haven't had any luck so far, then my mum was in the hospital for a little while, then I had to get ready for Otakon, and next thing I knew it's the middle of August and I haven't touched this story in over a month. @.@ So yeah, that's what's been going on here. But now I'm back and will be working to get the rest of this story out in the next few days.
> 
> Unfortunately I don't know if I will have the last two pieces that go along with the last two chapters. During this time my partner went back to school and getting in contact with her has been tricky (last message I got from her she mentioned not having wifi and I don't know if that was ever resolved). I have a message out to her and hope to hear back from her because she had said the pieces were done just needed some finishing touches so fingers crossed.
> 
> Anyway, I've babbled enough, enjoy the chapter!
> 
> ( [ The original pieces.](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/post/175111451883/my-pieces-for-yurionicebigbang-2018-this-is-my) )

The following morning Yuuri was curled up in bed, the blankets pulled up over his head in an attempt to block everything out. Sleep had eluded him most of the night, every time he would close his eyes and start to doze his mind would call forth images of Victor and he would jerk back awake. When the sun had started to peek in through his window was when he had burrowed into his blankets, not having the will or the energy to face the day. But eventually he knew he would have to. There were chores to be done, errands to run, and sooner or later someone was going to come knocking at his door and that would be the end of his wallowing. As if on cue a knock came to his door and Yuuri let out a soft groan before burying his head under his pillow.

“Yuuri?” his sister called. “Are you awake in there?”

Yuuri grumbled something that even to him didn’t sound like much of a response but otherwise didn’t acknowledge his sister’s presence outside his door. After a moment the knock came again, louder this time.

“Come on little brother, if you’re awake then come out. Breakfast is ready, and you have a visitor.”

A visitor? That quickly caught Yuuri’s attention, who would be visiting him? The only ones who ever came to see him were either Phichit or Yuuko and Takeshi with their children, and Mari would have referred to them by name so it couldn’t be any of them. Had someone seen him running off into the woods last night like a mad man and come to complain? That seemed more likely, but then again if that were the case Yuuri’s parents wouldn’t have let them into the house. They may not have understood Yuuri’s obsession with the fae realm, but they certainly weren’t going to let someone verbally attack him in their home. Curious, but also knowing he would have to get up anyway, he disentangled himself from his covers, dragged himself out of bed, and shuffled over to his door. He just barely remembered to grab his glasses, slipping them on before sliding open his door. Mari was still there, she looked him up and down before settling her gaze on his face.

“You look awful,” she commented. Mari never had been one to sugarcoat things.

“Good morning to you too. Who’s here?”

His sister shrugged. “We were hoping you could enlighten us.” At the blank look Yuuri gave her she continued. “He’s foreign, handsome and polite. Mom already loves him, but I’ve never seen him before. He hasn’t even told us how he knows you, just that his name is Victor and- hey! Yuuri!”

Anything else she might have tried to say was lost on him as he practically bowled her over in his haste to get out of his room, he would have to apologize to her later but at the moment that was the furthest thing from his mind. Victor. She had said Victor. It couldn’t possibly be… there was no way. Victor had gone back to the fae realm last night, Yuuri had _watched_ him walk away, he couldn’t be here he just couldn’t.

Yuuri ran down the small hallway that led from his room to the main room of the house, skidding to a stop and staring at the table that sat in the middle of the room. His parents were seated on one side, his mother in the process of pouring tea into a cup on the other side of the table. And sitting at that side of the table…

“Yuuri!” Victor cried out when Yuuri appeared, his smile impossibly wide.

“Victor… You… Why… How are you here?”

“Yuuri, you never told us you had such a charming friend,” his mother said, the tiniest hint of scolding in her voice.

“Uh…” Yuuri had no idea what to say to that. He had told his parents about Victor, many times in fact, but how was he supposed to explain that the man sitting across from them was the fae boy he claimed to have met as a child?

“Well don’t just stand there, come sit before your food gets cold.”

It took several tries before he could get his legs working, his first few steps a little jerky as he crossed the room to the table and slowly took a seat beside Victor, whose bright blue eyes hadn’t left him since entering the room. He stared at the table as his mother set about preparing a plate for him, something he would ordinarily fuss about and insist he could do himself, but currently he didn’t think he would be able to manage without dropping everything. Beside him he could practically feel Victor’s eyes boring into the side of his head, why was he _here_? More importantly _how_ was he here? The gateway to the fae realm was only open during a full moon—at least he assumed so anyway—so that meant it had closed once the moon had gone down. Was there a way to open it from the fae side? Or… Was is possible that Victor-

“Yuuri?” his mother’s voice broke through his thoughts, causing him to jump. “Are you all right?”

Yuuri lifted his gaze towards his parents and felt a small bit of guilt settle in his stomach at the looks of concern they were giving him. He had gone straight to his room upon returning home last night, offering no explanation as to why he had abruptly torn out of there like he was on fire and had been grateful when no one came to try and check on him. Over the years his family had learned to tell whether it was okay to approach him when he was upset or if it was best to leave him to work it out himself. Last night had definitely been a case of let him work it out on his own, but he was sure he had still worried them. He would have to give them some sort of explanation at some point, but not before he had Victor had had a chance to talk.

“I’m fine mom,” he said, hoping he sounded convincing. “Just a little tired.”

His mother nodded in understanding, but the look in her eyes told Yuuri she knew there was something he wasn’t saying. Thankfully she didn’t push the matter as she set his plate in front of him.

“Well make sure you eat up then, it will help give you energy.”

Yuuri nodded and looked down at his food, murmuring a thanks for the mean before picking up his chopsticks. His parents settled in to eat their own breakfast, drawing Victor into light conversation that Yuuri heard none of. His mind was racing, the questions of “Why? How? Why? How?” repeating over and over in his head. A single piece of rice hitting his cheek made him blink and look up. Mari had joined them at some point and was watching him, eyes flickering between him and his still untouched food. Mentally kicking himself for getting so distracted he finally began to eat.

It felt like an eternity before everyone finished eating. When his mother started to clear the table Yuuri leapt to his feet, startling those around him and excused himself and Victor a bit louder than was strictly necessary. Yuuri motioned for Victor to follow him and after thanking his mother for the meal he rose to his feet—much more calmly than Yuuri had—and followed the younger man back down the hallway to his room. Once inside Yuuri slid the door closed but kept his back to Victor, needing a moment to sort out his thoughts and decide where to begin. Unfortunately, Victor wasn’t going to give him the chance.

“Yuuri?” he asked, sounding unsure. “Are you all right?”

“I…” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No Victor, I’m really not.”

There was a pause and then. “Are you not happy to see me…?”

The hurt Yuuri heard in his voice was enough to make him turn around, and right away guilt settled heavily in his stomach. Victor was gazing at him sadly, looking more like a kicked puppy than a fae prince, it was enough to break Yuuri’s heart and entirely unfair. Yuuri ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

“That’s not… I’m happy to see you Victor, I am I just… Don’t understand.” Victor gave him a questioning, hopeful look but didn’t say anything, so Yuuri continued. “You went back to the fae realm, the gateway is closed now isn’t it? So how are you here?”

“Ah, well you see…” And suddenly Victor looked a little sheepish, Yuuri would have found it adorable if he wasn’t more interested in an explanation. “I went back to the gateway but when I got there I couldn’t bring myself to walk through. No matter how hard I tried my feet refused to move so I just stood there, staring at it until the moon went down and it closed, then I came back here.”

“But… why? Why would you do that? Now you’re stuck here until the gateway opens again.”

“I wanted to be able to spend more time with you,” Victor said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Yuuri stared at him dumbfounded. He hadn’t gone home, had in fact trapped himself in the human realm essentially, all so that he and Yuuri could spend more time together? The very idea seemed insane, impossible even, and yet Victor stood before him as proof that it had happened. He was here and now they had plenty of time to talk, for Yuuri to ask him all the things he hadn’t been able to ask the night before. Yuuri wanted to be happy, more than anything he wanted to be happy, but instead he was worried. There was one glaring detail that Victor seemed to be overlooking.

“But what about your realm? You’re their prince, aren’t you? Won’t they need you?”

At this Victor let out a laugh, that was not the reaction Yuuri had been expecting.

“They can get by without me for a little while,” Victor assure him. “Not a lot happens in the fae realm, it’s honestly pretty boring at times. But, should any problems arise Yakov is there, and he is more than capable of handling things.”

Yuuri still wasn’t entirely sure but decided that if Victor wasn’t worried then he shouldn’t be either. Once that thought settled into his mind he allowed his happiness to take over and a smile to spread across his face. Victor had stayed for him! He hadn’t wanted to part ways any more than Yuuri had so he had stayed. There was still a bit of worry at the back of his mind but for now he chose to ignore it, if Victor said things would be fine, then things would be fine. Though they had more time it was still limited, and Yuuri wasn’t going to waste a second of it.

“So,” he said when the silence between them had dragged out, deciding on the first thing he wanted to ask Victor about. “A prince huh?”

 

Having a fae as a house guest was… complicated. Mari had figured it out pretty quick, making the connection between the Victor the handsome foreigner and the Victor the fae boy Yuuri had spent so much of his life talking about. She had been understandably surprised at first, more so when Victor had proven what he was by making a flower grow and bloom right before her eyes, and then impressed that her little brother had actually made friends with a fae and hadn’t been completely crazy all these years. Yuuri had stuck his tongue out at her for that, which earned him a laugh. They both agreed that it would be best to keep the truth about Victor between them, there was no telling how the rest of the village would react to learn they had an actual fae among them. Victor hadn’t understood why he should hide it so Yuuri explained that it could scare them, reminding him of the same stories he had accused Yuuri of being afraid of as a child, or that they may start asking him to use his magic to do things for them. Victor didn’t really see the problem with the second one but agreed to try and keep a low profile.

Unfortunately, that proved to be easier said than done. For the first couple days the two stuck close to the house, helping with the chores that needed done there, but then his mother asked him to go to the market to pick up a few things and Victor had eagerly asked to tag along, wanting to see more of the village that Yuuri called home. Yuuri had been hesitant, but when Victor looked at him with big, bright eyes that would put most dogs to shame Yuuri had caved and allowed him to come, reasoning that it really wasn’t fair to keep him cooped up in the house all the time. Victor had let out a triumphant shout and thrown his arms around Yuuri in thanks, much to the younger man’s embarrassment. But of course, with the village being so small, and the fac that visitors were rare since they were so far away from any of the main settlements, someone like Victor stuck out like a sore thumb. No matter where they went people were watching them, many leaning in to not so subtly whisper to each other.

“Who is that handsome foreigner?”

“Why is his with the Katsuki boy?”

“Did you see his hair? I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Where did he come from?”

Yuuri tried his best to ignore them, having known that bringing Victor to the market would draw attention, though he hadn’t been expecting quite this much. It wasn’t until one whisper in particular reached his ears that he stopped dead in his tracks.

“That man came to my door the other day before the sun was even up, wanted to know where that one lived.” Yuuri assumed the man had nodded towards him. “I thought I had dreamt the whole thing, but I guess not.”

Unable to stop himself Yuuri looked over at the man, startled, before looking at Victor. Victor was looking around, eyes wide with wonder. Either he much better at ignoring the stares and the whispers than Yuuri was or legitimately didn’t notice them, Yuuri wouldn’t have been surprised if it was the latter. When he realized Yuuri was looking at him he turned his attention to him, tilting his head at the look Yuuri was giving him.

“What is it?”

“Did you-“ Yuuri stared but then stopped. There were still plenty of eyes on them which meant this was not the place to have this conversation. He glanced around then grabbed Victor’s hand and pulled him away from the stall they had been standing by. Victor made a noise of confusion but didn’t say anything as Yuuri dragged him around to a more secluded spot behind a building. There he dropped Victor’s hand and turned to face him.

“How did you find my house?” he asked before Victor could say anything. Victor blinked.

“What?”

“You had no way of knowing where I lived, so how did you find my house?”

Victor stared at him for several seconds, clearly baffled by the question. “I… asked?”

“Did you knock on someone’s door and ask where I lived?”

“Well of course, how else was I supposed to find out where you lived?” At the incredulous look Yuuri gave him Victor deflated slightly. “Was… that wrong?”

So much for Victor keeping a low profile. It wouldn’t be long before the entire village knew that the unknown foreign visitor had arrived in the village early in the morning asking for Yuuri. Had it been anyone else it may not have been a problem, but Yuuri was already the oddball of the village, and now he had a strange visitor that no one had ever seen before and apparently had no concept of time. Yuuri covered his face with his hands and let out a low groan. He wanted to be upset, but at the same time he knew it wasn’t Victor’s fault. Logically he had done what anyone would when they were trying to find their way, but that didn’t mean it was going to keep the villagers from talking. Of course, Victor’s sudden appearance in the village would have done that anyway, even without him being there for Yuuri. It just meant Yuuri was going to get a lot more attention for a while.

“You’re distressed,” Victor suddenly spoke, breaking through his thoughts. Yuuri lifted his face from his hands.

“Huh?”

You’re distressed,” Victor repeated. “Really distressed, I can sense it. Is it my fault? Did I do something wrong?”

Yuuri stared at him, sense it? What did he mean by that? Anyone who merely _looked_ at Yuuri would be able to tell something was wrong, so what did Victor mean by- Yuuri’s eyes widened slightly, fae were highly sensitive to emotions. Especially any sort of emotions that could be considered negative—it was why humans posed such a threat to the fae—and how Yuuri was feeling at the moment definitely counted as such, how could he had forgotten that? Victor was watching him, his brow knitted together in worry and Yuuri realized that if Victor was going to stay then he was going to have to keep a better grasp on his emotions, that was going to be tricky. Closing his eyes, he took a few calming breaths before opening them again and offering Victor a small smile.

“It’s fine Victor,” he said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Victor didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”

Yuuri nodded. “Yeah. Sorry if I worried you. Come on, lets finish getting the stuff my mom wanted and head back.”

Victor still looked unsure, but he didn’t argue, much to Yuuri’s relief. With a nod he allowed Yuuri to lead him back to the market so that they could continue their shopping. People continued to whisper and stare but Yuuri did a much better job of ignoring them, even getting so bold as to introduce Victor to a few of the vendors who looked particularly curious. That at the very least seemed to cheer Victor up, who had been watching Yuuri carefully ever since their discussion. In the back of his mind he knew he was likely inviting trouble, introducing Victor around was only going to draw more attention to them, but it wasn’t like he could keep Victor hidden forever. He was going to be here for a while, and it was only a matter of time before people started approaching him, best to head them off now and hopefully avoid any awkward confrontations.

For a little while that seemed to work. As Yuuri had expected word of Victor had spread through the village like wildfire and now everyone was quite curious about him. They had worked out a cover story. Victor was from another village and the two had crossed paths during one of Yuuri’s excursions into the woods that had taken him further away from the village than usual. They had chatted, Yuuri had told him about Hasetsu and had said that if he was ever in the area he should stop by. It wasn’t the greatest of stories, Mari had given him a rather severe raised eyebrow when he ran it by her, but it was the only thing he could think of that made even the littlest bit of sense. Phichit still felt Yuuri should tell everyone just who and what Victor was—he had come by a few days after Victor arrived, mildly cross that he had found out about Victor being there from the villagers and not from Yuuri—but Yuuri refused. He got to spend time with Victor, that was all he ever wanted, he didn’t need to prove anything to anyone.

About mid-way through Victor’s second week in the village things became complicated. He and Yuuri were in town, Victor was trying to decide on a pastry from one of the vendors when a voice spoke from behind them.

“Noticed you haven’t been going into the woods lately Katsuki. Did you finally give up on trying to find that fae you dreamed up?”

Yuuri closed his eyes, mentally preparing himself before opening them and turning around. Three men around Yuuri’s age were standing there, each looking smug and Yuuri had to resist the urge to sigh. These three had always been particularly fond of giving Yuuri a hard time about his search for the fae realm, and though he had long since stopped caring about anything they had to say, it didn’t make it any less tiring when they decided to have a go at him.

“I’ve been busy,” he said, voice flat and projecting disinterest. “Much like I am now so if you’ll excuse us.”

He started to lead Victor, who was looking quite confused by all this, away, but only got a few steps before one of them called out to them.

“Hey new guy, you know he’s completely crazy right?”

This time Yuuri did sigh, so much for having a quiet day out. Victor turned to the men, regarding them a moment before speaking.

“Sorry?”

Clearly pleased at having gotten Victor’s attention the three of them approached.

“You haven’t heard? Yuuri here claims to have met a fae and has spent years searching for it. He goes into the woods every night, looking for a tree or something that’s supposedly a door to the fae realm, isn’t that right Yuuri?”

Yuuri kept his back to them, he really didn’t want to do this right now. He was about to tell Victor to just ignore them and keep walking, but Victor spoke again before he could.

“I don’t understand, why does that make him crazy?”

“You’re kidding right? He said he saw a fae, what more proof do you want?”

“Are you saying that you don’t believe the fae exist? Because as I understand it your village extends an offering to them every year. Why would you do that if you don’t think they exist?”

They were silent a moment, clearly taken aback.

“Fae don’t approach humans, ever. He only said it to get attention.”

“Really? Because if seems to me he very much doesn’t want your attention. Not that I blame him, I wouldn’t want the attention of someone so unpleasant either.”

“Wha- Just who the hell do you think you are?!”

“Allow me to enlighten you a bit. Fae don’t often approach humans, you’re right about that. But sometimes, when we feel the human is worth it, we make exceptions.”

Yuuri’s head whipped around, eyes wide in horror as he realized what Victor had just said. There was a long silence as the three men stared at Victor, and then they burst out laughing.

“Oh my god, no wonder you’re hanging around him. You’re as crazy as he is!”

Victor narrowed his eyes as the three of them continued to laugh. Yuuri turned towards Victor, putting a hand on his arm.

“Victor…” he said quietly. “Leave it, let’s just go.”

Victor didn’t seem to be listening. He continued to watch as the three men laughed themselves silly then held a hand out towards the ground. A single tree root broke the surface, rising up and tapping one of the men on the shoulder. The man looked over and immediately stopped laughing. He stared at the root for several seconds before blindly slapping at the shoulder of the guy next to him to get his attention, never taking his eyes off the root. Once the second guy’s attention was on the root he did the same to the third guy. All three stared at the root, wide-eyed and unblinking as the tip started to bob up and down, looking very much like it was waving. The followed the motion of the root before ever so slowly, and in perfect unison, looking over at Victor, who was giving them the most sickeningly sweet smile Yuuri had ever seen.

“As I was saying, sometimes we make exceptions, and I have to say that had any of _you_ been lost in the woods back then I wouldn’t have done so for you. Now, if you’ll excuse us Yuuri and I are going to go back to enjoying our day.”

He lowered his arm, sending the root back into the ground. The movement caught the attention of the three men, causing them to turn their attention back to it and watch until it was out of sight. Continuing to smile, Victor gave the men a little wave then threw his arm around Yuuri’s shoulders and led him away. Yuuri was too shocked to argue.

They walked in silence for a while, though Yuuri was hardly paying attention to where they were going. The shock was slowly fading to panic as the realization of what had just happened fully hit him, Victor was supposed to be keeping a low profile! Not only had he caused a scene and used his magic in front of some of the villagers, but he had flat out _admitted_ to being a fae! This was a disaster, a complete and utter disaster. How long would it be before the whole village knew about it? Even if no one else had seen what Victor had done those three were bound to tell people, and then those people would tell people, and soon enough everyone would know. There had to be a way he could fic this, maybe he could say it had been a trick? They could say Victor was a performer, that he had been trying to show off and it got a little out of hand. What he had done hadn’t been all that impressive, so it might be possible to pass it off as a clever trick. But if they didn’t believe him then what would he do? This was such a mess… Why couldn’t Victor have just left it alone when he asked?

“You’re upset,” Victor’s voice broke through his rapidly spiraling thoughts. “Though I can’t tell if you’re upset with me or just in general.”

Yuuri looked up at him, right, he could read emotions, and Yuuri’s had to be going crazy right now. He let out a long, shaky breath.

“Why did you do that?” he asked. “We were supposed to be keeping the fact you’re a fae quiet.”

“I know, and I’m sorry but I just couldn’t stand the way they were talking to you. And you didn’t like it very much either.”

“No, I didn’t, but Victor I’m used to it. What they said wasn’t anything I haven’t heard since I was eight. I’ve learned to ignore it.”

“But I don’t understand. If the people in your village believe so strongly in the fae, then why don’t they believe that you met one?”

Yuuri closed his eyes and sighed, he really didn’t want to have this conversation right now, but Victor was looking at him expectantly, so he really didn’t seem to have a choice. And he supposed he should have known they would have to talk about it sooner or later, he just would have preferred later. Opening his eyes again he looked towards the sky, considering his words before speaking.

“You remember the night we met right? When you found me lost in the woods?”

“Of course. You were taking your village’s offering to the shrine.”

Yuuri nodded. “When I was picked to take the offering not everyone was happy about it. I was… a bit of a screw up when I was a kid. I was smaller than a lot of the boys my age, and because of that I had trouble with tasks they did easily. So when I was picked to take the offering, a lot of people thought I would mess up, that I would fail. Heck, I thought it too. Back then I hated the forest, it terrified me, so to be sent into it at night to accomplish a task that was so important to my village? It was a lot of pressure.”

Yuuri paused for a few moments, thinking back to that night. He had begged his parents to talk to the elders, to get them to pick someone else, but his parents had assured him that he would be fine. All he had to do was follow the path to the shrine, leave the offering, and come home, there was no possible way it could go wrong. And then the storm had come, and Yuuri had found himself lost, wet, and scared.

“I never would have made it to the shrine if you hadn’t found me. I almost failed just like everyone thought I would.”

“But you didn’t. You made it to the shrine and proved everyone wrong.”

Yuuri shook his head. “But I didn’t go back. The whole process of getting to the shrine and back is only supposed to take an hour or two, but I was gone the whole night and they had to come find me. By then people had already assumed I had failed and was too ashamed to show my face. And then when I came back and claimed to have been helped by a fae no one believed me. They said I was doing it for more attention, that I wasn’t satisfied with having been chosen for the honor of taking the offering, or that I was trying to distract everyone from the fact that even though I did make it to the shrine I still in a way messed up the ritual because I took so long.”

“But that… That doesn’t even make any sense!” Victor exclaimed appalled. “You still made it, you did what was expected of you. So what if you took longer? And why would you make up a story about meeting a fae if you made it? That makes even less sense!”

Yuuri shrugged. “Welcome to the minds of humans.”

Victor let out a small huff. “Well it’s not right.”

Yuuri could help but smile a little. He was touched that Victor was so upset about the way his village treated him, but he also found it slightly hilarious. Humans could be fickle and cruel, even to a small child, and though growing up had been lonely at times it hadn’t been all bad. No one had every really been outwardly confrontational with him, preferring to stare and whisper just loud enough for him to hear, and if he was running errands for his family in the market they didn’t flat out refuse him so that was something. Plus, he had had Yuuko and Takeshi, although admittedly Takeshi had only come around because of Yuuko threatening to stop being friends with him if he didn’t stop picking on Yuuri, but even so they had still managed to form a friendship. And while it would be so easy to rub everyone’s faces in the fact that he had been telling the truth all this time he had no desire to. Victor was here, he was getting to spend time with him, that was all he had ever wanted, and he was happy.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter. What they say doesn’t bother me anymore.” Victor raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed. “Okay, it doesn’t bother me _much_ anymore. Besides, come tomorrow I have a feeling everyone is going to have something new to talk about.”

And that was what worried him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reunited once again! Oh Victor... You really don't know what it means to keep a low profile do you? XD I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know not a lot happened here, but I'm hopeful the last two chapters will make up for that, so stay tuned!
> 
> Comments and constructive critique's are always appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yuuri is it true?” she asked, foregoing any sort of greeting. Yuuri blinked at her.
> 
> “Er… Is what true?”
> 
> Yuuko stole a glance at Victor before looking at him again. “The whole village is talking about it, they’re saying that Victor is a fae and Haru claims he sent a tree after him.”
> 
> “It was a single root!” Yuuri exclaimed before he could stop himself. “And the thing barely touched him, all it did was tap him on the shoulder and wave.”
> 
> Yuuko’s eyes went wide and Yuuri realized too late what he had said. He quickly tried to backtrack, to take it back and say that Haru was just making things up, but before he could get a proper sentence out Yuuko started bouncing excitedly.
> 
> “Oooh so it is true! Yuuri that’s amazing!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. So this chapter is the longest out of all of them and has a lot going on so it was a bit of a beast to edit. It's also the one I think I've made the most edits to, edits that I'm happy with (even if they did keep adding rather than taking away >.>) and hopefully made his chapter all that it can be. 
> 
> Unfortunately I still haven't heart back from my partner so I don't have the last two pieces for the story. I'm hoping and crossing my fingers that I'll hear from her before I have to post the final chapter.
> 
> So without further ado, on to the drama!
> 
> ( [ The original pieces.](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/post/175111451883/my-pieces-for-yurionicebigbang-2018-this-is-my) )

The following day Victor and Yuuri had planned to go to the beach after helping with the morning chores, but Yuuri was very tempted to cancel the trip. To get to the beach they would have to venture though the village, and after what had happened the previous day he wasn’t sure he was ready to face any repercussions that might ensue. But Victor had been so excited when Yuuri had made the suggestion, saying he had always wanted to see a beach.

“Georgi has told me all about them and they always sounded so wonderful!” he had exclaimed. “But I’ve just never had the chance to see one for myself.”

Georgi was an Undine, a water fae, Yuuri had learned, and as such had seen many different bodies of water including the ocean. As a forest nymph, not to mention prince of the fae, Victor hadn’t had much opportunity to see many of the things the other fae had, and because of that Yuuri just didn’t have the heart to cancel their trip. Plus, he would have to face the villagers sooner or later so he might as well get it over with so he could stop worrying.

So that was how they found themselves making their way through the very heart of the village towards the path that would take them down to the beach. Yuuri tried to keep his nerves under control, not wanting to alert Victor that anything was wrong, but had no idea how successful he was actually being. If Victor sensed anything he was keeping quiet about it.

People watched them as they passed, this much Yuuri had been expecting, what he hadn’t been expecting were the hurried, almost excited sounding whispers that followed them. It certainly wasn’t the reaction he had prepared himself for before they set off for the beach so Yuuri wasn’t sure how to handle it. In the end he decided to try and ignore it, they were almost to the path that would lead them down to the beach and then he wouldn’t have to worry about it. Or so he hoped. He was just starting to relax the littlest bit when Yuuko suddenly approached them from out of no-where, blocking their path.

“Yuuri is it true?” she asked, foregoing any sort of greeting. Yuuri blinked at her.

“Er… Is what true?”

Yuuko stole a glance at Victor before looking at him again. “The whole village is talking about it, they’re saying that Victor is a fae and Haru claims he sent a tree after him.”

“It was a single root!” Yuuri exclaimed before he could stop himself. “And the thing barely touched him, all it did was tap him on the shoulder and wave.”

Yuuko’s eyes went wide and Yuuri realized too late what he had said. He quickly tried to backtrack, to take it back and say that Haru was just making things up, but before he could get a proper sentence out Yuuko started bouncing excitedly.

“Oooh so it is true! Yuuri that’s amazing!”

“Shh! Yuuko quiet!” he hissed as he grabbed his friend’s shoulder and quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late. The moment the words were out of her mouth a dozen people were upon them, chattering and exclaiming and shouting their questions to try and speak over the person next to them, which of course only drew more attention. Soon it felt like every eye in the village was on them. Yuuri didn’t know which way to turn, his head was spinning, and he wasn’t being given the chance to speak. Poor Victor wasn’t faring much better. People kept touching him and were crowded so tightly around them that it was impossible for him to move away. Yuuri squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears against the noise, this was way worse than he had imagined. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t _breath_ , he could feel himself shaking and couldn’t stop. A hand fell on his shoulder and he jerked away, the simple touch being too much for him to handle. Everything was too much; too much, too much, too much! He wanted to cry, to scream, but his voice was locked in his throat, choking him, making it even harder to breath than it already had been. He needed to move, to get away, but he couldn’t leave Victor. Victor, where was Victor? He needed to find him, get to him, but he couldn’t move. Bodies kept closing in around him, he felt like he was drowning. He needed to… He needed to…

“EVERYONE SHUT IT!”

A lone voice cried out over the cacophony of voices around him and everything went silent. The only sound to be heard was loud, desperate gasping that Yuuri would later realize had been him and then someone was calling his name. The voice was muffled, and sounded far away, but it was a familiar voice, a voice he knew meant safety even if he currently couldn’t place who it belonged to. Gentle hands rested on his—he didn’t pull away this time—and carefully drew them away from his ears.

“Yuuri…” the voice said again and this time it was much closer. “Yuuri it’s okay, just breath, you’re okay.”

Yuuri sucked in a deep breath and this time he felt the air reach his lungs. Blowing that out he took another, then another, the fourth was less deep and after that his breathing continued to work its way back towards normal. The hands that had been holding his let go and a moment later were on his shoulders.

“That’s it Yuuri, you’re doing great. Just keep breathing.”

Yuuri took a few more breaths before slowly opening his eyes, his vision swam for a few moments before slowly focusing on the face of the person standing in front of him.

“Phichit…” he croaked.

The villagers were still crowded around them, but when Yuuri looked again he realized they had backed off significantly. Yuuko and Takeshi were there, together they, along with their three girls Yuuri noticed after a moment, were working to herd the crowd away and give them some space. Yuuri quickly looked around for Victor, and felt guild squeeze tightly in his chest at the wide eyed looked of what could only be described as terror on his face. This must have been so much worse for him, all those emotions swirling around and bombarding him at once, _he_ should have been the one falling apart, not Yuuri. He needed to say something, apologize, or at the very least make sure he was okay, but his tongue felt like lead and his head was still a bit muddled so trying to form words was more than he was capable of doing currently. Gentle pressure on his shoulder had him turning his attention back to Phichit, who he had almost forgotten was there. His friend gave him a reassuring smile before stepping back and turning to the crowd.

“All right listen up!” he said, raising his voice to ensure he was heard. “Yes, Victor is a fae. Yes, he’s the same one that Yuuri said he met that, I’d like to point out, _none_ of you believed, and no he is _not_ here for you all to fawn over. You should all be ashamed for treating him like this. Once you all have calmed down and can be civilized _then_ you can try and talk to him, I’m sure he would be more than willing to chat when you’re not grabbing at him like a piece of meat. Now go on, shoo.”

Phichit used his hands for emphasis and had Yuuri been able to he would have laughed at the sight of his friend literally shooing away what looked like half the village as if they were a dog begging for scraps. Looking thoroughly chastised and exchanging sheepish looks the crowd dispersed and Yuuri was finally able to completely breath properly. Phichit watched and waited to make sure none of them tried to come back before turning towards them, the stern look he had been using on the crowd softening to concern.

“Are you two all right?” he asked.

Yuuri started to nod but paused and looked at Victor. He was starting to feel better, if a little drained, but how was Victor feeing? Victor’s eyes were still wide, making him look a bit like a spooked animal ready to bolt, which Yuuri suppose wasn’t an entirely inaccurate description. When he noticed Yuuri watching him he turned his gaze towards him and tried to smile but it was strained and obviously forced, the sight broke Yuuri’s heart a little. He had grown so used to Victor’s bright, impossibly large smiles, so to see this one… It just wasn’t right.

“Phichit, why don’t you take them back to Yuuri’s house?” Yuuko suggested. “They both need a rest after that ordeal.”

Phichit nodded. “Yeah. Come on guys.”

Yuuri glanced at his friends before looking at Victor again, waiting to see if he would say anything. He knew how much Victor had been looking forward to going to the beach, and though he really wasn’t in the mood to go anymore if Victor still wanted to then he would. But Victor said nothing, and when Phichit motioned for the two of them to follow Victor complied. Yuuri held back a moment to thank Yuuko and Takeshi before hurrying to catch up, falling into step beside Victor. Victor kept his gaze forward as they walked and Yuuri in turn focused his on the ground. What a disaster. Victor had been so curious about humans, wanting to meet them and learn more about them, but after today Yuuri wouldn’t be surprised if Victor never wanted to see another human again. That thought settled heavily on his mind, what if Victor decided to leave? He couldn’t go back to the Fae realm, but that didn’t mean he had to stay in the village. He was a forest nymph, no doubt it would be easy for him to fend for himself out in the forest until the gateway to the fae realm reopened. If Yuuri was really being honest with himself he knew Victor was probably better off in the words then here amongst humans, but the selfish part of his brain that wanted Victor to stay kept from him making the suggestion, and that only made him feel worse.

When they reached his house Yuuri thanked Phichit and told him they would be okay from here. He already wasn’t sure what he was going to tell his parents as to why they were back so soon, explaining why Phichit was escorting them back would just be an added complication he didn’t currently have the brain power for. Phichit gave him a questioning look but a moment later nodded in understanding and after reiterating that the two of them were to get some rest he said his goodbyes and departed. Once his friend was out of sight he moved for the door but paused and looked back when he realized Victor wasn’t following him. Victor was staring off towards the forest, a far-away look on his face. He watched him for a full minute before taking a small step towards him

“Victor?”

Victor startled and looked over at him, blinking a few times before his gaze seemed to properly focus on Yuuri.

“Ah, sorry Yuuri… Did you say something?”

“Not really. Are… Are you all right?”

“I… I think I’m going to stay outside for a little while.”

Yuuri tilted his head to the side. “You really should rest…”

“I will,” Victor assured him. “I just… I need to be outside. You go inside and rest.”

Yuuri looked at him and a feeling of unease settled in his stomach, was Victor going to leave? He had every right to really, after what had just happened, Yuuri wouldn’t even blame him if he did, but would they still be able to see each other? Realistically, Victor didn’t _have_ to stay in the village, as Yuuri had already reasoned Victor would be more than capable of setting himself up in the forest. But what if once he was there he decided he had had his fill of human’s and didn’t want to see them anymore? Yuuri didn’t want to believe such a decision would also include him, Victor had allowed himself to be locked out of his home realm for the sake of giving them time to spend together, but maybe he was regretting that decision. Maybe he wanted nothing more than to return home and was just not beginning to realize just how stuck he was. Yuuri wanted to ask, to find out what was going through Victor’s mind, but he was too afraid of what the answer would be. In the end, when they had stood there in silence for longer than was necessary, he forced himself to nod.

“Okay…I’ll just… Okay…”

Once he was safely in the isolation of his room he crossed to his bed and flopped down, burying his face in his pillow as tears prickled at the corners of his eyes. For years he had wanted nothing more than to see Victor again and get to spend some real time with him, to get to know him and learn more about his world. So when Victor had shown up and said that he stayed behind in the human realm for that exact reason Yuuri had been overjoyed, but he should have known it was too good to be true. Victor didn’t belong amongst humans, Yuuri knew that, and he had a feeling Victor had realized it too. As the first few tears began to fall Yuuri decided that if Victor decided to stay way then he would respect that. He wouldn’t seek him out again, nor would he go back to the gateway to the fae realm, he would move on, and allow Victor to do the same.

 

Yuuri had no idea when he had fallen asleep, but when he opened his eyes he found him room plunger in semi-darkness, the only light being that of the moon shining in through his window. He stared at his window for a long time before letting out a sigh and slowly sitting up, how long had he been asleep? As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes he wondered if his family had come by at any point to try and check on him, more than likely they had, and he knew he was going to have to figure out what to tell them to explain his actions earlier. He wasn’t looking forward to that. With another sigh he dropped his hand, turned his gaze, and let out a loud yelp of surprise when he realized someone was sitting on the edge of his bed. He scrambled to get away from the unknown figure but only succeeded in getting himself tangled in his blankets, when had he gotten under them? The figure shifter, turning towards him and Yuuri paused when he saw a familiar flash of silver.

“Victor?”

“Sorry,” Victor said. As Yuuri’s eyes began to adjust he was able to make him out better. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He wanted to say it was fine, had every intention of doing so, but when he opened his mouth that was not what came out.

“You’re here.”

Victor tiled his head to the side, a look of confusion on his face.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“I… I just assumed… What happened earlier… I thought…” Victor watched him silently, waiting for him to gather his thoughts. Yuuri took a deep breath and let it out slowly before trying again. “I didn’t think you would come back…”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because of what happened!” His voice came out a bit louder than he had meant it to. “Because of the way everyone treated you. After they left you just… You looked so…”

He trailed off and looked down, unsure of how to describe how Victor had looked. They sat in silence for a while, both either not wanting to speak or waiting for the other to say something first. Eventually Yuuri felt his bed move and looked up to see victor scooting closer to him.

“It… was a lot to happen at once, I won’t deny that. And it was certainly overwhelming to suddenly have so many strong feelings around me. But Yuuri, that’s not enough to get me to leave, I’m here to spend time with you and I have every intention of remaining here until I absolutely have to leave. I’m sorry if I gave you the impression earlier that I wanted to leave, it was not my intention I just… Needed to clear my head and get my thoughts back in order and heading out into the forest was the best way for me to do that.”

Yuuri nodded in understanding, his fear and unease from before was fading and being replaced by cautious hope.

“So… You don’t want to leave…?”

“Of course not.” A pause. “Unless you want me to go?”

“No! No of course I don’t! I-“

He cut off when Victor started laughing, and hoped it was too dark for him to see the blush that had creeped on to his face. Victor moved closer to him then reached out and pulled him into a gentle hug, Yuuri’s blush intensified.

“Well then I’m staying,” Victor said gently. After getting over his embarrassment Yuuri leaned into the hug, bringing his own arms up to wrap around Victor as he buried his face into the crook of the other man’s neck. They sat like that for a long time, Yuuri was so comfortable he felt he could fall asleep right like that, though how he could possibly be tired after having slept through the day was beyond him. As if sensing it—and he very well may have—Victor slowly pulled away.

“You should get some sleep,” he said. “It’s been quite a day.”

Yuuri was about to agree, but then another thought popped into his head. Why it came to him now all of the sudden he didn’t know, but now that it was there it was there to stay until he saw it through.

“Actually…” he said slowly. “Before that, there’s something I want to show you.”

“Now? Can’t it wait?”

“It can but… Well… I’ve wanted to show you for years, and with all the excitement of seeing you again and then you being here I… Sort of forgot. And now that I’m thinking about it I don’t want to wait.”

“Hm, well all right. What is it?”

“Let’s go outside.”

Curiosity clear on his face he rose to his feet when Yuuri did and followed him out of the room. Thankfully his family was already asleep, so they were able to slip out the back door without being questioned as to where they were headed so late. Not that they were going far, the area behind the house was adequate enough for his purposes, he just needed to keep his nerves under control long enough to do what he needed to do. He had Victor sit on the small stool that his mother used when doing the wash then walked a few feet away from him. He took a slow, calming breath before turning to face him.

“It… won’t be as good as when you did it. And I couldn’t remember everything, so I had to change some things but… Well, I still hope you like it.”

He caught the look of confusion on Victor’s face before bowing his head. “What I did… Yuuri what are you-“

He cut off as Yuuri lifted his head, raised his arms, and began to dance. The small gasp of surprise was all Yuuri needed to know Victor understood, he was doing the same dance Victor had done for him fifteen years ago. Yuuri had been utterly entranced back then as he watched Victor move and had wanted nothing more than to replicate it, though it had taken a long time. Minako had been more than happy to teach him, even if she had been startled when he told her the reason why he wanted to learn. He had described the dance to her as best as he could remember, and she had written it down, promising to teach him once he had learned and mastered the basics. Of course, he hadn’t been able to remember everything, so Minako had helped him fill in the parts he couldn’t remember with moves that fit.

Yuuri had thrown himself into learning, it wasn’t like he had many friends to play with, so it gave him something to do when he wasn’t helping with chores or searching for the entrance to the fae realm. It had been hard, but his determination to learn Victor’s dance had kept him going, and it hadn’t taken him long before he fell in love with it. The elegance, the grace, the ability to tell a story without words, he loved everything, and once the dance was complete he had been determined to one day show it to Victor.

It had been a while since he had last done the dance to its full extent—Minako would likely scold him if she ever found out he had jumped right into it—but his body easily remembered the steps, moving as if they were a part of him. In a sense he supposed they were. Victor had done this dance for Yuuri to cheer him up after getting lost, now Yuuri was dancing it for Victor to make up for what had happened earlier that day. It wasn’t much, but it was the best Yuuri could do and he hoped it helped Victor as much as it had helped him.

Soon enough he came to the end of the dance, striking the final pose and holding it for a few seconds before dropping his arms and letting out a small gasp as he tried to catch his breath. He took several deep breaths, waiting until he was breathing a little more normally—and giving himself a chance to calm his nerves—before finally looking at Victor. Victor was staring at him, eyes wide and a hand over his mouth. They stared at each other for a long time, and Yuuri grew more and more nervous as the silence stretched out, what was Victor thinking right now? Had he liked it? Did he recognize it? Did he understand why Yuuri had done it? He wanted to know, but the longer Victor stared at him without saying anything the more he was afraid to ask. Finally, after several long minutes of silence he swallowed nervously and forced himself to speak.

“So I… Um… I don’t know if you… remember but, you did this dance. For me. Back when we first met. I… I always hoped I would get to show you so… Um…”

Victor slowly lowered his hand from his mouth, but he continued to stare and Yuuri felt his stomach twist into all sorts of unpleasant knots, Victor had hated it. He must have, why else would he just be sitting there and not saying anything? He never should have done this, it had been a stupid idea to learn the dance, and an every stupider one to show it to Victor, he probably didn’t even remember it. Unable to take Victor’s silent gaze any longer Yuuri looked down as he tried to force back the embarrassed tears that were threatening to fall.

“I… S-Sorry… This was… This was silly… We… We should head back in… It’s late and-“

Whatever else he was going to say was lost as he heard movement and the next thing he knew he was being pulled into a crushing hug. Yuuri let out a small sound of surprise, followed by a small “oof” as the wind was knocked out of him slightly.

“That was incredible Yuuri,” Victor said in the most tender voice Yuuri had ever heard. “I can’t believe you remembered that.”

It took Yuuri a few tries to find his voice, though when he did it came out a bit wobbly.

“Of course I did, you looked so amazing when you danced how could I ever forget?”

“Not nearly as amazing as you looked just now.”

Yuuri’s face grew hot, he tried to deny Victor’s claim but when he leaned back to look at him the words died in his throat at the tender look in Victor’s eyes. He felt his blush deepen.

“You’re incredible Yuuri. Not only did you learn a dance you saw once but you made it your own. Now I suppose I have to learn your dance and perform it for you in return.”

Victor finished his sentence with a wink and Yuuri was certain his face was about to burst into flames with how much he was blushing, Victor really was way too good at eliciting that reaction from him. He wanted to tell Victor that he didn’t have to do that, that seeing the dance as a child and then getting to dance it himself was enough, but instead of saying any of that he smiled.

“I’d like that.”

Victor returned the smile. They stood there for a little while longer before agreeing that they really should get back inside and get some sleep. Tomorrow they decided they would stick close to Yuuri’s house, and then after that maybe try venturing into the village and seeing what happened. Both could see the nervousness in the other’s eyes at the idea of facing the villagers again, but they both knew they would have to do it sooner or later. After several minutes they both let out light chuckles, they hadn’t moved and were still standing with their arms around each other. Finally, with much obvious reluctance, they let go, stepped away from each other, and then made their way back inside.

 

Venturing back into the village a couple days later was nerve-wracking to say the least, but they quickly discovered they had nothing to worry about. Many of the villagers kept their distance—a few even looked away when they saw the two of them coming—but a few approached them, apologizing profusely for their actions. Victor had been slightly taken aback but was quickly all smiles and assured them that no harm had been done. Possibly encouraged by this more of the villagers approached them throughout the day, all making sure to apologize before saying anything else. After that trips to the market or around the village were very pleasant, the villagers quickly grew to love Victor, and Victor was eager to get to know everyone.

Of course, not everything was perfect, there were a number of villagers that didn’t come anywhere near them and watched them with narrowed eyes when they passed. Yuuri found their actions a bit odd but tried not to think about it too much until he overheard some of them talking. Apparently not everyone was happy to have a fae among them, claiming it to be a disruption to the balance of things. Humans were not meant to be around fae, and fae were not meant to walk amongst humans. Yuuri supposed they had a point, though when he voiced this concern to Victor he had waved it off, assuring him that his being there wasn’t going to harm anything.

And then of course there were still those that thought Yuuri was seeking attention, more than once he heard some of them whisper how he must think he’s so special now that he was friends with a fae. Yuuri had rolled his eyes at that one, of course some of them would think Yuuri was parading Victor around and trying to show him off. Never mind that when Victor first arrived Yuuri had been doing everything he could to ensure no one found out what Victor really was, but Yuuri supposed some opinions just couldn’t be changed. In the end Yuuri decided not to worry about it. They were a small enough group that they were hardly worth wasting energy on.

They did eventually make it to the beach where Victor proceeded to have the time of his life. Phichit had gone with them, and the two sat on the warm sand and watched as the fae prince jumped, and splashed, and played in the water as if he were a young child. It was an endearing scene to say the least. Eventually Victor managed to coax the other two to join him and they spent a few good hours goofing around and having a great time.

Their days were spent mostly in the village, with Victor each day excitedly seeking out some new activity to learn. One of their excursions found them at the docks, where Yuuri’s father and some of the other fishermen attempted to teach Victor how to fish, though Victor ended up spending more time tangled up in the nets than anything else. Yuuri had laughed so hard he fell over. Another day they found themselves at the edge of the village where the farms were, and Victor was invited to try his hand at farming. This he turned out to be much better at than fishing, though when he attempted to use his magic on the crops he had been thoroughly scolded. Victor had been confused by that, they wanted the crops to grow better so why not let him help them along?

“It’s a matter of pride,” Yuuri had explained. “Managing a farm is hard work, and you’ll have a hard time finding a farmer looking for the easy way of doing things.”

Victor had made sure to apologize to the farmers after that. Each day brought with it something new for Victor to try. The spinster ladies taught him to sew, the children taught him their favorite games, one morning when Yuuri had awoke to learn Victor had gone out early into the village without him he found the curious fae at the baker’s, helping to sell the day’s pastries. Upon seeing him Victor had excitedly thrust a muffin into Yuuri’s hands, announcing that he had made it and urged Yuuri to try it. It had been a little dry but otherwise not bad. Victor seemed particularly fond of baking, much to Yuuri’s amusement and his mother’s delight, but even that fell to second place when it came to dancing. After Yuuri had danced for Victor the fae had been curious how he had managed to learn such a complicated dance when as a child Yuuri had admitted he wasn’t much of a dancer. Yuuri had told him about Minako, and how she had taught him to dance and helped him to recreate the dance Victor had done for him. Upon hearing this Victor practically begged to meet her, wanting to know the woman who had taught Yuuri to “make music with his body” as he had put it. Yuuri had blushed at that but agreed to introduce him.

Minako had given Victor a critical once over before nodding at something only she knew and accepting him as if she had known him forever. Yuuri knew better than to question what it was she had been looking for. When Victor asked her to teach him the dance she had helped Yuuri to create she had given Yuuri a very pointed raised eyebrow before stating that since it was Yuuri’s dance Yuuri should be the once to teach him. Yuuri had sputtered at that and tried to insist that he couldn’t possibly teach someone to dance, but Victor had been positively delighted by the idea, and after being assured that Minako would still be there to assist when needed he eventually agreed to do it. And so for a few hours each day they found themselves at Minako’s house, deciding it would be the best place for them to practice where they wouldn’t be disturbed.

Victor very quickly became a beloved member of the village, so much so that it was easy to forget that he was fae and hadn’t been living there all his life. It was all a bit surreal. Yuuri had spent so long being shunned and ignored by his fellow villagers, and now they would greet him cheerily, ask how he was doing, how his family was doing. Many had even apologized for the way they had treated him over the years. It was something Yuuri had never expected, had never known he wanted, but now that he had it he was happier. He no longer dreaded going to the market for his mother, or even just walking around—something he had pointedly avoided doing when he could. Life in the village was suddenly so much better and all thanks to Victor, Yuuri didn’t know if he would ever be able to repay him.

Time seemed to fly by. Before they knew it, it was only a few days until the full moon—a fact Yuuri was trying very hard to forget—and Yuuri had started to notice that something seemed to be… off about Victor. At first he assumed it had something to do with his impending return to the fae realm. They both had known it was coming, but so far neither had brought it up, surely it wouldn’t be the end of things? Now that he had done it once there was no reason why Victor couldn’t come visit again. Sure he probably couldn’t do it often, but it should still be doable. Though he was reluctant to do it Yuuri decided it was time they talked about it, they couldn’t avoid it forever. Mind made up, he went to the spare room where Victor had been staying, took a moment to prepare himself, and then knocked on the door. He was surprised Victor wasn’t already up and about, the other man much more of a morning person than Yuuri, but the two of them had been out a bit later than usual the day before so he assumed that had something to do with it.

After a minute had passed and Victor hadn’t come to the door Yuuri furrowed his brow in confusion, could he still be asleep? He tried knocking again, this time a little louder but still received no response. Concern started to creep in, this wasn’t normal.

“Victor?” he called through the door. “Victor are you awake?”

Still there was no response, Yuuri was starting to get worried now. His parents hadn’t said anything about him leaving already like he sometimes did so he knew Victor was still here. He bit his lip, considering a moment before taking hold of the handle of the door.

“Victor I’m coming in,” he said before sliding the door open and stepping into the room.

The spare room was small, having originally been a storage room that had been cleared out and made into a makeshift bedroom when Victor had arrived. As such, it was a fairly plain space; no furniture to speak of, no personal effects, the only thing in the room was the mat that had been laid out for Victor to sleep on so that’s where Yuuri’s eyes immediately went. Sure enough Victor was there, or at least Yuuri assumed the person shaped lump of blankets was Victor. The blankets had been pulled up over his head, completely blocking him from view. Yuuri studied the pile and after a moment was able to detect a slight up and down movement coming from the lump of blankets, it seemed Victor really was still asleep. Yuuri was about to back out of the room and leave him be but paused, something about the whole situation seemed off. In all the time he had been here Victor had never once gotten up after Yuuri, so it seemed strange that he would do so now. Hoping that he was just being paranoid he crept towards the mat and knelt down, reaching a hand out and placing it on what he hoped was Victor shoulder.

“Victor?”

Victor shifted a bit but didn’t actually acknowledge that he had heard, Yuuri gave it a minute before trying again, this time giving his shoulder a shake.

“Victor,” he said, a little louder this time. “Victor wake up.”

Victor mumbled something and shifted again, Yuuri shook him a little harder.

“Come on Victor.”

More shifting and then his head poked out from under the blankets as he rolled over, Yuuri’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Victor you… You look awful.”

Victor let out a small snort. “Gee thanks.”

Yuuri flushed. “No, sorry I didn’t mean- Are you feeling all right?”

Victor slowly sat up, the simple task seeming to take greater effort than it should.

“Mm… I guess so, a little tired maybe.”

He looked more than tired, he looked ready to keel over at any moment. He was paler than usual and there were dark circles under his eyes that Yuuri hadn’t noticed the day before. Even his eyes had lost their usual luster, looking more like dull glass than the blue jewels Yuuri had come to think of them as. He did not look good at all.

“Maybe you should stay in and rest today,” Yuuri suggested but Victor shook his head.

“I don’t want to be inside.”

“Victor…”

“I’ll be fine Yuuri. It’s probably because I’ve been away from my realm so long. I’ve never been in the human realm for more than a night, so my body isn’t used to it.”

Yuuri gave a hum of acknowledgment, he supposed that made sense. It wasn’t unusual for certain environments to effect people differently, and Victor was about as different as they came. But as he looked at Victor and noticed how he didn’t seem to be quite looking at him he got the feeling there was something he wasn’t saying, and that made him uneasy.

“Would your parents be upset if I didn’t help with the chores this morning?” Victor asked. “I was thinking I might take a walk, see if some air helps.”

Yuuri shook his head. “You were never required to help so they won’t mind. I’ll tell them you weren’t feeling well. But are you sure you’ll be okay?”

Victor nodded. “Yes, I just need some to myself I think.”

“Mm, well okay,” Yuuri said as he got to his feet. “I guess I’ll see you later then?”

Victor nodded again and offered Yuuri a reassuring smile. Yuuri gave a small one in return before turning and heading out of the room. He went back to his own to get ready for the day before heading out into the main room to join his family for breakfast. When his mother asked about Victor he told her that Victor wouldn’t be joining them, that he wasn’t feeling so well and decided to head out for some air. She had accepted his explanation with a nod, but Mari shot him a questioning look when their mother looked away. He shook his head and mouthed “later”.

After breakfast he and Mari gathered up the dishes and made their way out back to wash them. He explained to her what had happened when he went to Victor’s room to wake him, how ill he had looked and how he had said it might have something to do with him being away from the fae realm for so long.

“And you think letting him go off on his own was a good idea?” she asked when he told her about Victor wanting to go out to get some air. Yuuri shrugged.

“I really couldn’t have stopped him, and he was pretty adamant about it so…”

Yuuri tried not to think too hard about it, but he just couldn’t get they way Victor had looked out of his head. Over the last week or so Yuuri had noticed that Victor didn’t seem to be quite himself. At first he hadn’t thought anything of it, but the last few days had been particularly telling. Victor had started to look paler, and he hadn’t seemed to have quite as much energy as before. When Yuuri had tried asking him about it he had insisted that he was fine, that he was probably just overdoing their daily activities and just needed to slow down. Yuuri hadn’t been entirely convinced but had decided not to push the issue, Victor knew his own body and if he said that he just needed take a step back then who was Yuuri to question him? Now Yuuri was wondering if he should have. Victor really hadn’t looked good this morning, and he had to admit he was nervous knowing that Victor was out on his own when he clearly wasn’t feeling well. Was it really because he had been away from the fae realm for so long? It made sense, but at the same time he couldn’t stop the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that there was something else, especially since Victor hadn’t quite looked him in the eye when telling him he was fine. Yuuri decided that when Victor got back from his walk he was going to confront him, find out what was really going on and if there was anything he could do to help. And he wasn’t going to give up until Victor came clean. 

“Yuuri!”

Yuuri and his sister paused and looked up to see Phichit hurrying towards them, panic clear on his face. Yuuri felt his stomach tighten as a sense of foreboding washed over him.

“What’s wrong Phichit?” he asked as his friend came to a stop in front of them. The younger man bent over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

“You… need to get… to the market…” he panted. “It’s Victor he… He’s completely lost it!”

Yuuri paled. “What do you mean Phichit?” he asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. His friend stood straight and shook his head, having mostly gotten his breath back.

“There’s no time to explain, you have to come _now_!”

Yuuri nodded and turned to his sister, intending to apologize but she waved him off.

“Don’t worry about it, just get going.”

He nodded again then turned to Phichit and without a word the two took off.

Thankfully the market wasn’t far, but as they got closer they had to dodge around people who were running away from the area in terror. Yuuri’s feeling of foreboding from before grew stronger, what was going on? What had happened to Victor? Phichit said he had lost it but what did that mean? And what was everyone so afraid of? As they rounded a building and dashed into the center market Yuuri skid to a stop, he got his answer. Victor was there, arms out at his sides, fingers angled towards the ground and his body rigid, and he wasn’t alone. Three villagers were bound by thick roots that were slowly snaking their way further up their bodies, getting dangerously close to their necks. As Yuuri looked upon the scene before him with a sense of growing dread he realized they were the same three men who had accosted him and Victor the first time they had ventured out into the village. Yuuri’s eyes went wide.

“Victor…” He stared for a moment and then he was running, vaguely registering Phichit calling after him. “Victor!”

Victor straightened slightly and every so slowly turned, Yuuri stumbled to a stop, mouth falling open in shock. Victor was almost unrecognizable. His eyes had gone completely black, like two voids that threatened to consume any who gazed on them for too long. Thin black veins twisted and trailed down from his eyes and lips, the ones from his lips stretching down along his throat and disappearing under his shirt. His darkened eyes fell on Yuuri, and his lips split into a cruel, almost manic grin.

“Yuuuriiii...” he said in a voice that was all wrong. It was distorted, dripping with malice and sent a chill down Yuuri’s spine.

“Victor… What… What happened to you…?” He looked to the three villagers, the roots had stopped moving now that Victor’s attention was on him. “What are you doing?”

“Whatever do you mean Yuuuriii? These humans have nothing but negative thoughts about you, they needed to be punished.”

“Punished…? Victor what-“ He looked between Victor and the three villagers, trying to make sense of what was going on. Negative thoughts. Victor had said the villagers were having negative thoughts, well that was nothing new. Most of his life the other villagers had looked down on him for his claims of having met a fae as a child, and though it had gotten better when he had brought Victor to the village it hadn’t fixed everything. While many had come to Yuuri and apologized for doubting him, there were some that had become envious of Yuuri for befriending a fae, and then there were others that still doubted he had. These individuals had voiced their discontent in not so subtle whispers any time Yuuri was around. Yuuri had ignored them, Victor was here so what did he care what they said? But Victor had been concerned about it, feeling that it should have bothered Yuuri.

And that’s when it hit him. It hadn’t been long after the whispers had begun that Victor had started to look sickly and lose energy. The villager’s negative feelings towards Yuuri had affected Victor, building up until they became too much and finally took control. Victor had been corrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun, dun, DUN!!! Whoo boy, stuff just got real. (Although really, did anyone not see this coming? I've only been hinting at fae corruption for the entire story so... >.> )
> 
> Just one chapter left! Is Victor doomed to live as a twisted abomination forever? Will Yuuri find a way to save him? Stay tuned to find out!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Victor no!”
> 
> Victor rounded on him, the darkness in his eyes seeming to flare slightly, Yuuri scrambled to a stop.
> 
> “How can you try to defend them?!” Victor demanded. “After all the terrible things they’ve said about you, the things they’ve accused you of, the way they’ve treated you. How can you possibly feel they deserve any mercy?!”
> 
> Yuuri didn’t respond right away, he knew he needed to keep himself calm and choose his words carefully if he was to have any chance of getting through to Victor. The wrong word or shift in his emotions could tip Victor over the edge to where he could never come back.
> 
> “Victor… Listen to me, I never resented them. I admit the things they said didn’t feel great, and yeah it often hurt to know how they felt about me… But I never resented them. I knew I was telling the truth, and I knew that one day I would see you again, that’s all I ever wanted. The things they said didn’t matter so long as I got to see you again.” He allowed a small smile to play at his lips. “And I did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is! The final chapter!
> 
> So I know this was supposed to have been posted by the 18th, but when I say this weekend was hectic I am not exaggerating. Also, funny story with this chapter. When I originally wrote it the word count was at 4,627. After going through and editing it jumped to a final count of 6,433. I added almost 2,000 words to this chapter and in large part due to the fact I more or less re-wrote the whole beginning scene. I had been down to the wire by time I wrote this chapter and so had to kinda rush through it. This allowed me to flush it out a bit and (hopefully) make it better.
> 
> I want to thank everyone who took the time to read this story and stuck with it as I let it sit in limbo for a while and then flailed to get the last few chapters out. Hopefully you have all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Also a huge thank you and many hugs to my partner [ madamelenny](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/) who was such a wonder to work with. Her support and lovely art played a HUGE part in pushing and inspiring me to write this story and she deserves so much love! ^.^
> 
> Now as I mentioned before, my partner had been working on two more pieces that went with the last two chapters. Unfortunately, she ran into some rather bad luck with her laptop and the files were corrupted and lost. HOWEVER! She IS working on a new piece and once it is ready I will add a temporary chapter to this to let you all know so you can see it and gush over it because just based on the preview she showed me it's super cute. So to anyone who was subscribed to this story hold on to that for a little while if you want to see the piece.
> 
> For now here once again are the [two completed pieces](https://madamelenny.tumblr.com/post/175111451883/my-pieces-for-yurionicebigbang-2018-this-is-my) she did.
> 
> All right, I've babbled long enough (hopefully you bared with me to this point) and I'm sure you all just want to get on with it and find out what happens with Victor. Off you go!

Yuuri stood rooted to the spot as he stared in disbelief at what Victor had become, how could he not have realized what was happening? He knew what negative feelings could to do a fae, it was the reason why adults weren’t supposed to go near them and why Yuuri had been trying extra hard not to let things get to him. Even after the villagers had accepted Victor there had still been some that stubbornly held on to their resentment towards Yuuri. But there hadn’t been that many who felt that way—or so Yuuri thought—so how had this happened? Were their negative feelings really that strong? Or were fae more sensitive to them than they had realized? Whatever the case, Yuuri knew he had to do something to calm Victor down before someone got hurt. Yuuri knew Victor cared about the villagers and would never forgive himself if he harmed any of them. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he forced his feet to more and slowly approached his friend.

“Victor… You have to listen to me. This isn’t right, you know it’s not.”

Victor tilted his head to the side. “Not right? These humans were cruel to you. And not just them, but many others. They need to atone for their actions.”

Yuuri shook his head. “No… No they don’t. The things they’ve said, I don’t care about them. Victor please, you have to stop.”

“Oh Yuuri… Yuuri, Yuuri, Yuuri.” Yuuri had to suppress a shudder. Usually he loved when Victor said his name, but now it just sounded wrong. “You can’t hide your feelings from me. You say you don’t care, but I know differently. I could feel your sadness, the loneliness that wrapped itself around your heart every time someone said something cruel to you. You wanted them to stop but were too timid to say anything, so now I’ll stop them for you.”

Victor started to turn back towards the three villages he had ensnared, with a spike of panic Yuuri dashed towards him.

“Victor no!”

Victor rounded on him, the darkness in his eyes seeming to flare slightly, Yuuri scrambled to a stop.

“How can you try to defend them?!” Victor demanded. “After all the terrible things they’ve said about you, the things they’ve accused you of, the way they’ve treated you. How can you possibly feel they deserve any mercy?!”

Yuuri didn’t respond right away, he knew he needed to keep himself calm and choose his words carefully if he was to have any chance of getting through to Victor. The wrong word or shift in his emotions could tip Victor over the edge to where he could never come back.

“Victor… Listen to me, I never resented them. I admit the things they said didn’t feel great, and yeah it often hurt to know how they felt about me… But I never resented them. I knew I was telling the truth, and I knew that one day I would see you again, that’s all I ever wanted. The things they said didn’t matter so long as I got to see you again.” He allowed a small smile to play at his lips. “And I did.”

Victor stood motionless, his gazed fixed on Yuuri and Yuuri tried to fill his mind and heart with as many positive feelings as he could. The first time he had seen the field of Lunar flowers and the joy he had felt as he and Victor danced through them, his family and how they had never tried to stop him from seeking out the entrance to the fae realm, the overwhelming happiness he had felt when he finally found it and they were reunited. These and more were all positive memories, positive feelings that he wanted to convey to Victor, to make him understand. But perhaps his happiest memory was when Victor had shown up at his home and told him that he had stayed behind so that they could have time together. There were no words to describe how happy that had made Yuuri, so he tried to let Victor feel it instead, to project just how happy he was that Victor was here.

They stood like that for a long time, their gazes never wavering from the other, Victor tilted his head slowly, his eyes narrowing the slightest bit. It was almost as if he were truly seeing Yuuri for the first time. And then gradually, his posture started to relax. The veins staining his skin began to recede, and the black of his eyes began to fade. Yuuri let out a small sigh of relief.

_That’s it Victor,_ he thought.

The veins were almost completely gone, and Yuuri thought he could see a hint of blue in Victor’s eyes when a fist sized rock sailed over his head and stuck Victor in the shoulder. What happened next was so quick there was no time to react. Victor’s eyes immediately went black again and the veins ran back down his skin like thin trails of water. He whirled around, facing the direction the rock had come from and thrust his hand out, the culprit was immediately ensnared in a mess of roots that to Yuuri’s horror he realized were starting to squeeze.

“NO!” Yuuri dashed over to the trapped villager, grabbing at the roots he tried to pull them away. “Victor st-!”

The rest of his plea died in his throat as he looked over at Victor. The black vein-like marks had spread further, trailing down along his arms to the tips of his fingers and a visible dark aura had appeared around him. Though they were several feet apart Yuuri could still feel the corruption radiating off Victor like heat rising off rocks on a hot summer day. It seeped in through his skin, making his body feel heavy before closing in on his heart and suddenly he was overwhelmed by wave after wave of loneliness and sadness. With a gasp Yuuri clutched at his chest and fell to his knees as fifteen years’ worth of suppressed feelings hit him all at once, rendering him a shaking, sobbing mess.

Around him Yuuri was vaguely aware of some of the villagers falling in similar fashion while others let out cries of anger or wailed in anguish as the corruption took hold, dragging from their hearts their darkest feelings. Things quickly dissolved into chaos, a few villagers lashed out at each other, throwing words and fists as they were consumed by any sort of hate or resentment they felt while others were left curled up on the ground in sobbing heaps, lamenting on everything from failed crops to lost loved ones.

Yuuri heard every whisper, every accusation the villagers had ever thrown at him over the last fifteen years play over and over in his head. He saw their disapproving stares as he made his way through the market, saw the looks of concern and uncertainty his family tried to hide but he saw anyway. Yuuri closed his eyes tightly and covered his ears in an attempt to block it all out, and then a new feeling started to sneak its way in, working its way through the heavy sadness and loneliness until it pushed through to the front. Anger. He had never felt it before but suddenly he was angry at everyone who had ever doubted him, who had ever made him feel this way. Opening his eyes, he lowered his hands and raised his head to observe the scene before him, suddenly not as horrified as he had been by it a moment ago. All these people had called him a liar, an attention seeker, they made him feel unwelcome in his own village. Perhaps… they did deserve this…

Yuuri shook his head so hard the moment that thought passed through his mind it made him dizzy, he couldn’t believe he had just thought that! No matter how bad their words had made him feel he had never once wished any ill-will towards them, even if he apparently _did_ harbor some underlying resentment towards them. Mind much clearer he looked towards Victor, who was surveying the area around him and looking far too pleased by the amount of damage he had caused.

“This is what humans are like,” he said, and Yuuri wasn’t sure if Victor was speaking to him or himself. “Fickle, judgmental beings that cause nothing but harm to others. Well no more.”

More roots suddenly burst through the ground, screams rang out as the villagers who were able tried to run only to be ensnared before they got too far. Those that had been sobbing on the ground were easily grabbed and hardly seemed to notice. Yuuri’s chest tightened in panic, looking around quickly before settling his gaze back on Victor. He needed to do something, and he needed to do it before it was too late.

Scrambling to his feet he ran towards Victor, fueled by desperation as he slammed into him and wrapped his arms tightly around Victor’s body, pinning his arms to his sides. At first Victor didn’t react, either caught off guard or not immediately aware something had happened Yuuri didn’t know. But after a few moments he spoke.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice eerily calm but still sounding so very wrong.

“Victor please… You have to stop. This isn’t you, I know it isn’t, _you_ know it isn’t. You would never hurt anyone like this, please Victor.”

“But didn’t you want this?” Yuuri tensed slightly. “I felt how you felt a moment ago, your anger, your resentment, you wanted them to hurt, to know how you felt all these years. So why are you trying to help them?”

“Because they’re human! Humans aren’t perfect! We make mistakes, and sometimes we do things that hurt each other! And yeah maybe… Maybe I did resent them a little, but that doesn’t mean they deserve this! You know this is wrong Victor! You said you wanted to learn more about humans, well this is how we are!”

Yuuri lifted his head to look up at Victor, he was crying again, tears of guilt and desperation that fell fast from his eyes as he silently pleaded for Victor to understand. He saw Victor’s eyebrows raise slightly and felt the smallest whisper of hope.

“But… But we’re not all bad… You know we’re not. Think back Victor, think of all the good people you’ve met while you’ve been here. The fishermen, the farmers, the baker, you had fun spending time and learning from them didn’t you? Even though you were terrible at fishing and got scolded by the farmers, you still enjoyed it right?”

Victor’s gaze was fixed on Yuuri, the tenseness Yuuri could feel in his body began to relax a little. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the roots had stopped moving and seemed to be loosening their grip.

“Minako! Think of all the time we’ve spent with her, learning new dances or just goofing around, I know you enjoyed that because you love to dance. You still have to finish learning the dance I did for you.”

The black veins were receding again and the dark pools that had become his eyes were fading, growing lighter and lighter until Yuuri thought he once again saw a hint of color. Hopeful that the worst was over he loosened the vice like grip he had around Victor’s body but still remained close.

“And my family. Mom, dad, Mari, they welcomed you into our home without question, practically made you part of the family. You don’t think them so terrible, do you?” He paused a moment, debating if he wanted to say the last part of that thought and decided to go for it. “Or… Or me…? I… I know this is my fault but… Hopefully… You don’t think I’m so terrible…?”

At those words Victor’s eyes wend wide, the black fading completely and returning to their usual bright blue. The black veins receded completely, leaving his skin thankfully unmarred and looking as smooth and flawless as it always had been. Victor’s body fully relaxed, and as it did the roots completely loosened their hold on the villagers and sunk back into the ground. Everything was quiet, no one moved or even seemed to breath. Victor’s eyes were still on Yuuri, he blinked slowly a couple times before seeming to really focus on him.

“Yuuri…”

Relief washed over him and he allowed a smile to slowly spread across his face, it was really over this time. He brought his arms up to wrap around Victor’s neck, hugging him tightly and Victor sank into the embrace, slumping against Yuuri and depending on the shorter man to support him as he buried his face into Yuuri’s shoulder. Yuuri took a moment to glance around; the villagers were still there, watching the two of them and seeming afraid to move. He knew he should say something to tell, try and reassure them that everything was okay, but at the moment his concern was with Victor, and making sure that _he_ was okay. Yuuri didn’t know how long they stood like that but eventually Victor shifted, lifting his head enough to look around and when he spoke his voice sounded small and broken.

“Yuuri… What have I done…?”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Yuuri said immediately, but Victor didn’t seem to be listening.

“I… I hurt them… Why… How could I do that…?”

“Victor…”

“Yuuri.” Yuuri looked towards the new voice, Phichit had come over, the look in his eyes a mixture of caution and concern as he looked at Victor. “You should get him away from here.”

Yuuri looked at him a moment then nodded. “Yeah…” he agreed before turning his attention back to Victor. “Come on Victor,” he said gently.

Victor looked at him then back at the villagers, still none of them had moved and they continued to eye the two in trepidation. Yuuri released Victor from his embrace and took half a step back before reaching out and taking Victor’s hand, drawing the older man’s attention back to him. He offered Victor a small, reassuring smile before giving his hand a gentle tug and starting to lead him away.

Yuuri kept his eyes fixed forward as they walked, forcing his anxious nerves down as they approached a small cluster of villagers. Wordlessly the ground parted, allowing them to pass without incident but still watching their every move. Everything continued to remain silent as they made their wat towards the edge of the market, even the wind was still as if holding its breath and waiting to see if anything else would happen. It was the sort of silence that would normally feel suffocating to Yuuri, pressing in on all sides until you wanted to scream just so there was some sort of noise. And yet Yuuri felt oddly calm. Maybe it was because he knew the worst was over, or maybe his mind was too focused on Victor to think about anything else, whatever the reason he was glad for it. One of them needed to have a level head right now and Victor was certainly in no such shape.

When they eventually made it back to the house his family was standing outside, worried gazes looking in the direction of the market. No doubt they had heard all the commotion and Yuuri was thankful they hadn’t gone to see what was happening. They didn’t say a word when the two approached, simply looked at them, saw the burnt out and tired expressions they were both wearing, and led them inside where they were guided to sit at the table. Not long after Yuuri’s mother was pouring a round of tea but Victor just stared at his cup, his gaze distant. They sat in silence for a long time, Yuuri knew his parents likely had a dozen question about what happened and why the two of them looked like they had been through the wringer, but they didn’t ask, didn’t try to press for any sort of explanation. The simply waited, giving the two of them as much time as they needed to gather their thoughts. Yuuri kept glancing at Victor, looking for any sort of sign he was ready to talk, but Victor kept his gazed fixed on the table. A few times a stray tear would slip from his eye and down his cheek, and each time Yuuri would reach up to wipe it away.

“Perhaps the two of you should go rest,” his mother eventually said. “It’s clear you both have been through quite an ordeal but aren’t ready to talk about it yet. Maybe after some sleep you-“

“Victor is fae,” Yuuri blurted out, his mother blinked at him.

“What?”

Yuuri mentally kicked himself, that was not now he had intended to tell his parents about Victor, but now that it was out there was no turning back. After stealing a quick glance at Mari, who gave him a nod he took a deep breath and let it out slowly before launching into the story.

He started from the beginning, with him finding the entrance to the fae realm he had spent so much time looking for and how he and Victor had been reunited after he figure out when it opened—confirming that Victor was the same fae he had claimed to have met as a child. From there he went on to explain how they had parted ways that night, and how Victor had instead of returning to his realm had elected to remain in the human realm for the sole purpose of wanting to spend more time with Yuuri. A bit sheepishly he apologized for having not told them the truth sooner, admitting he hadn’t really been sure how to tell them and had decided that it was best if as few people as possible knew about Victor. But then of course the rest of the village found out and he knew he should have told them then, and really didn’t have any excuse for why he hadn’t, especially when it had become clear that most of the village was more than happy to have Victor around. Finally, he reached the events of today and here he paused, glancing at Victor who so far had continued to remain silent. When Victor gave no indication of being aware of Yuuri’s gaze Yuuri reached over and touched his hand, causing him to jump and finally look over. Yuuri inclined his eyebrows slightly, silently asking if it was okay for him to continue. After a few moments, during which Yuuri wondered if Victor had even been aware of what Yuuri was saying, he nodded.

And so Yuuri continued, starting with how Phichit had come looking for him in a panic, telling him he needed to come to the market and what he found upon arriving there. He explained that while most of the villagers loved having Victor around not all of them were happy. Some had continued to harbor hard feelings towards Yuuri, still believing him to be seeking attention and accusing him of toting Victor around so he could silently gloat as he proved to them he had been telling the truth all along. After a while those feelings had gotten to Victor, seeping into his being and taking root where they grew and grew until they burst forth and took control.

His parents listened silently, never once trying to interrupt and allowing their son the chance to say everything he needed to. When the story was finally finished Yuuri bowed his head, again apologizing for having kept this from them. His parents exchanged looks, a silent conversation passing between them before he mother finally spoke.

“Well I do wish you had told us about this sooner Yuuri,” she said gently, Yuuri hunched his shoulders in shame. “However, I don’t think today could have been prevented even if you had. The villagers still would have had their opinions, and they still would have affected Victor. I think today would have happened no matter what.”

Yuuri glanced over as Victor shifted beside him, he placed his hands flat on the table and bowed low, his forehead nearly touching the wood.

“If I had never come here none of this would have happened…” he said, speaking for the first time since before leaving the market. “I just wanted to spend some time with Yuuri, I never imagined something like this would happen. But I was being selfish. Not only did I abandon my own realm, but I caused so many problems for you and everyone else who had been nothing byt kind to me. Words cannot possible express how deeps and truly sorry I am, and I wish… I wish I had never come…”

Victor’s words were like a sharp knife to the heart and Yuuri had to fight back the tears he felt prickling at his eyes. He understood why Victor was saying this, and knew that there was truth to his words, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. He wanted to tell Victor that he was wrong, that him coming hadn’t been a mistake, but how could he when proof of the opposite was staring them right in the face? Across the table his mother smiled gently.

“Actually, I think you coming here was the beck thing that could have happened.”

Victor’s head snapped up and they both looked at her in surprise, beside her his father nodded.

“Yuuri has spent the last fifteen years searching for you,” his mother explained. “Because of that he all but ostracized himself from the rest of the village, and it made me worry. Since you’ve been here I’ve never seen Yuuri happier. For that alone I am grateful you came.”

Yuuri’s eyes went wide, he looked over at Victor who looked just as surprised as he did. He’d had no idea that his actions had caused his parents so much worry and felt guilt creeping into his chest. He opened his mouth to once again apologize but his mother waved it away.

“Hush now, don’t worry yourself about it. The question now is, what will the two of you do?”

Yuuri furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s obvious Victor needs to return to his realm. Even without what happened today it isn’t safe for a fae to be among humans for so long. But what I’m worried about is you Yuuri.”

Yuuri blinked. “Me?”

His mother nodded. “You spent so long searching for Victor, and it’s clear the two of you have become quite close, what will you do once he leaves?”

“I…” Yuuri looked down, he had no answer to that. He had spent so much time trying to not think about Victor leaving that he hadn’t even considered what would happen when that time finally came. In theory they could still see each other, though it wouldn’t be often and not for very long, but would it be enough? How long before Victor grew tired of such an arrangement? How long before he himself did? He didn’t think it would be possible but…

“Think about it,” his mother said. “But for now, the two of you should get some rest.”

“What about the villagers?” Victor asked. “I… I’d like to make up for all the trouble I caused, if I can.”

“Mm, for now I think it would be best to give them some time. Worry about yourself for now.”

Victor nodded and with that they were dismissed to their rooms. In the small hallway they stood silently for a while before murmuring wishes for the other to rest well and slipping into their respective rooms. Yuuri lay down once inside, but despite how tired he was his mind was too active for him to even consider trying to sleep. Now that his mother had posed the question to him of what he would do he couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was no reason he could think of as to why he and Victor couldn’t still see each other, but how would Victor feel about it? After today Yuuri wouldn’t be surprised if he had had his fill of the human realm for a lifetime. Could Yuuri visit him in the fae realm? Logically Yuuri knew humans shouldn’t trespass there, but he had already been there twice and nothing bad had happened so maybe…

And then there was the question of the villagers. They had only just started accepting Yuuri after years of shunning him, after today he imagined it would be worse than ever. Maybe it would be best if he also left the village, but where would he go? How would he support himself? He was only slightly better than Victor at fishing—despite his father’s best efforts to teach him—and had never cared much for farming so neither of those were really an option. His mother had taught him to cook and he wasn’t half bad at it, maybe he could do something with that. Of course, his family wouldn’t be happy if he left, they would insist he didn’t need to, but he also knew they wouldn’t stop him if he did decide to leave. The more he thought about it the more it really did seem like the best option for him. He would miss everyone, his family, Phichit, Yuuko, Takeshi and the girls, but after finally being accepted by the rest of his village he didn’t think he could go back to how things were.

But then what about Victor? If he left the village would he still be able to see him? The next settlement was days away and what were the chances it would also have a gateway to the fae realm nearby? He knew he needed to talk to Victor about all this, but when it came right down to it he was afraid to. Humans and fae were never meant to coexist like this, that much was obvious. What if Victor said they should part ways permanently? That they should go back to their lives and pretend like none of this ever happened? Yuuri knew he could never forget the time he spent with Victor but if that was what Victor wanted then he wouldn’t argue, he wouldn’t put Victor as risk for his own selfish reasons. A few tears slipped from his eyes and he brushed them away. He just didn’t know what to do.

 

The next few days went by both incredibly fast and excruciatingly slow. Victor and Yuuri stayed at the house, not daring to venture into the village, and busied themselves with whatever needed done there. During that time Yuuko and Phichit came around to check on them and see how they were holding up. They assured the two they were all right and when they asked about the villagers were told things had calmed down for the most part. Some were still a bit shaken, but a couple had come to the two of them and asked of Yuuri and Victor’s well-being. That had surprised them, having thought for sure none of the villagers would have cared. Victor asked them to pass on to the villagers how sorry he was for the trouble he caused, and they promised to do so.

Victor’s impending departure loomed darkly over their heads, and yet neither of them could seem to bring themselves to talk about it. When the day finally arrived Yuuri spent most of it in his room and no one tried to get him to come out. He still hadn’t talked to Victor about if it would be possible for them to still see each other, nor had he decided what he wanted for himself. When the last of the light outside was gone and the sky had grown dark he knew he was out of time. He still had no idea what he was going to do, but at the very least he needed to talk to Victor. With a heavy sigh he hauled himself to his feet, slipped from his room, and went to Victor’s door. After knocking a couple times and receiving no response he finally slid it open and peered inside only to find it empty. Panic began to creep its way into his chest, but he pushed it down. Victor was probably in the main room with his family, spending some time with them before heading back to his realm. Turning away from the room he padded down the small hallway, stopping at the end. Mari and his parents were sitting at the table, they looked up when he entered, but Victor was no-where to be seen.

“Where’s Victor?” he asked, still trying to contain the panic threatening squeeze the breath from his lungs. When his family exchanged looks he knew. “He left…”

His mother nodded. “About an hour ago.”

Tears were already forming in his eyes, he didn’t try to wipe them away. “But I… We… he didn’t even say goodbye…”

“He thought it would be better this way,” his mother said gently.

“Better…” he repeated, letting out a hollow laugh. “How is this better?”

“You’ve been avoiding him all day,” Mari pointed out. “He figured saying goodbye would be too hard for you so he made that you wouldn’t have to.”

“I wasn’t-!” he started to deny but stopped. He hadn’t meant to avoid Victor he just… hadn’t been ready to talk. Now it was too late.

The tears fell before he could stop them, not that he would have tried, why did he always do this? Why did he hide away and avoid the things he needed to think about? He and Victor could have talked, could have worked something out, and even if there was nothing to be done they could have at least parted ways on better terms. They had for the most part avoided talking about what had happened in the village—the only time it came up was when Phichit and Yuuko had come by—but Yuuri hadn’t been blind. He could see how heavily it still weighed on Victor’s mind, and it was likely Victor had also been thinking about what would happen when he left. But as usual Yuuri had been too busy getting lost in his own head that he had avoided everything, and now Victor was gone.

“Yuuri…” his mother said, voice gentle as always. “What is it you want?”

“I…” He didn’t want things to go back to how they had been, he didn’t want to be lonely anymore. His mother had been right when she said Victor made him happy, until this moment he hadn’t realized just how unhappy he had been. He didn’t want to go back to that. He wanted time, he wanted-

“I want to be with him.” The realization hit him harder than it should have, how could he not have realized it? His mother smiled at him, as if she had been expecting that answer.

“Then go.”

His tears abruptly stopped. “Wh-What?”

“If that is what you truly want, and if it’s what will make you happy, then go.”

“I… But…” He looked from her to his father and sister, they were both smiling which told him they had already talked about this. “I can’t… I can’t just leave you…”

“All we’ve ever wanted for you was for you to be happy, and if this is what it takes then who are we to stop it? Just make sure you come to visit when you can.”

Yuuri let out a wet laugh before going to his mother and enveloping her in a tight hug, Mari and his father moved over to join them.

“Thank you…” he said quietly. “I love you all.”

“We love you too son,” his father said.

The four of them held each other for a minute longer before slowly pulling away, each of his family had tears in their eyes but they were also smiling. His mother placed a hand on his cheek, letting it linger there a moment before pulling it away. Yuuri sniffled and wiped his eyes before getting to his feet and headed towards the door. With a final glance back at his family he smiled, thanked them again, and then was out the door.

Stepping outside felt like waking up, for the first time since the events a few days ago his mind was clear, he knew what he wanted and now he just needed to do it. The first few steps were hard to take, but as he got farther from his house and closer to the forest they became easier and easier and by the time he reached the edge of the village he was running. He had no light to see by, he hadn’t brought a lantern and the trees blocked most of the moonlight, but he knew the way. It was if something was pulling him, guiding him in the direction he needed to go and before long the gateway came into view. He stopped before it, breathing hard. As he gazed at the shimmering wall he knew he should feel nervous, there was no telling how this was going to go. Victor could tell him to go back, that he didn’t belong there, and yet he was completely calm. They hadn’t talked about it, would likely still need to do so, and yet somehow he knew everything would be all right.

As he stepped through the gateway he wondered how he was going to find Victor. The other man had a head start on him so there was no telling where he could be. If he was lucky he would encounter Mila or Georgi, or he supposed Yuri would do as well and would be able to convince them to help him. If not well, then he would just have to search the entire realm or cause enough of a ruckus to bring the fae prince to investigate. That thought made him smile and he was already planning what he could do when he finished passing through the gateway and his thoughts stopped. He didn’t think he would ever tire of the field of Lunar flowers, their delicate blossoms in full bloom once more, but this time the flowers only gained half of his attention. The other half settled on a lone figure standing in the middle of the field, moonlight reflecting off his silver hair as he gazed skyward.

“Victor…” he said quietly, and then more loudly. “Victor!”

Victor startled and whirled around and even from this distance Yuuri could see the sparkling blue of his eyes go wide in shock. He saw Victor mouth his name and then Yuuri was running. Victor took a few uncertain steps forward as Yuuri quickly closed the distance between them and when he was closer he leapt, throwing himself into the arms of a very startled Victor and knocking them both to the ground. They laid there for several moments, neither moving or speaking, until eventually Victor seemed to find his voice.

“Yuuri you… What-“

“You didn’t say goodbye you jerk,” Yuuri said as he lifted his head. He tried to sound angry but couldn’t stop smiling. Which only seemed to confuse Victor more.

“I… Sorry?”

Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh as he pushed himself up on to his knees, after a moment Victor sat up as well.

“Yuuri…” he tried again. “What are you doing here?”

“I was an idiot,” Yuuri said, deciding to get straight to the point before his nerves decided to show their ugly heads. “These last few days… I didn’t handle them well. There’s so much we needed to talk about. What happened in the village, you leaving, what that meant for us and if we’d ever be able to see each other again. But I… I was afraid. Afraid of what you might say and… Well I guess I was afraid to admit what I wanted because I didn’t think I could… I still don’t know but… But I’m not afraid anymore. I know what I want.”

Victor stared at him, and Yuuri swore he saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

“And… What is it you want?”

Yuuri smiled and reached out, placing a hand gently on Victor’s cheek.

“I want to stay by your side.”

A small gasp escaped his lips and his eyes once again went wide. Yuuri waited, allowing him to process what he meant, and then Victor was tackling _him_. As they fell back he felt Victor’s lips press against his and it was his turn to go wide eyed. The kiss only lasted a couple seconds and when Victor pulled back his cheeks were bright red and gave a sheepish smile.

“Sorry…” he said. “It was the only thing I could think of to-“

Whatever else he was going to say was lost as Yuuri wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him back down for another kiss. This time they stayed together much longer, only finally pulling away when they needed a breath. They looked at each other and then both burst out laughing at how ridiculous they were. Yuuri had no idea how long they laid there, but eventually Victor pushed himself up and got to his feet, holding a hand out to help Yuuri up as well.

“Are you sure Yuuri?” he asked. “You know the gateway only opens during the full moon, you won’t be able to see your family very often.”

Yuuri smiled up at him, squeezing his hand gently.

“I know, and so do they. But they said so long as I’m happy that’s all that matters.”

Victor returned the smile. He leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on Yuuri’s forehead and then looked towards the gateway, Yuuri followed his gaze. The moon was going down, soon the gateway would be closed and his decision would be final. He was still a little worried, a human in the fae realm was still an unusual thing. There were bound to be complications—the other fae would likely want him cast out—but as the shimmering of the gateway began to fade and Victor wrapped his arms more securely around him he felt his worries fade away with it. It would be difficult, there was no doubt about that, but they had each other and he was certain that would be enough to get them through anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it!
> 
> Once again I want to thank everyone who took the time to read, comment, or give kudos, the support really means a lot! I'm taking part in the second round of the Victuri Big Bang (prince and the pauper au, whoo!) which I'm super excited about and hope that when the time comes you will all support that story as well!
> 
> Comments, kudos, and constructive critiques always welcome!
> 
> And as a final note if you enjoyed this story please consider checking out [ some of my other works!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vLightnDarkv/works)


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